Article 73: Reporting of Serious Incidents

Summary of Article 73

  • Provider Responsibilities in Serious Incident Reporting: Providers must report serious incidents linked to high-risk AI systems to market surveillance authorities within specified timeframes, conduct investigations, and cooperate with competent authorities while ensuring no alterations affect the evaluation of the incident.
  • Market Surveillance Authorities’ Role in Incident Handling: Market surveillance authorities must notify relevant national public authorities, take appropriate regulatory measures within seven days, and inform the Commission of any serious incident, regardless of whether action has been taken.
  • Special Reporting Rules for High-Risk AI: High-risk AI systems under existing Union regulations or as safety components of devices have specific, limited reporting obligations focused on incidents with substantial regulatory implications.

Provider Responsibilities in Serious Incident Reporting

1. Providers of high-risk AI systems placed on the Union market shall report any serious incident to the market surveillance authorities of the Member States where that incident occurred.

2. The report referred to in paragraph 1 shall be made immediately after the provider has established a causal link between the AI system and the serious incident or the reasonable likelihood of such a link, and, in any event, not later than 15 days after the provider or, where applicable, the deployer, becomes aware of the serious incident. The period for the reporting referred to in the first subparagraph shall take account of the severity of the serious incident.

3. Notwithstanding paragraph 2 of this Article, in the event of a widespread infringement or a serious incident as defined in Article 3, point (49) (b), the report referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be provided immediately, and not later than two days after the provider or, where applicable, the deployer becomes aware of that incident.

4. Notwithstanding paragraph 2, in the event of the death of a person, the report shall be provided immediately after the provider or the deployer has established, or as soon as it suspects, a causal relationship between the high-risk AI system and the serious incident, but not later than 10 days after the date on which the provider or, where applicable, the deployer becomes aware of the serious incident.

5. Where necessary to ensure timely reporting, the provider or, where applicable, the deployer, may submit an initial report that is incomplete, followed by a complete report.

6. Following the reporting of a serious incident pursuant to paragraph 1, the provider shall, without delay, perform the necessary investigations in relation to the serious incident and the AI system concerned. This shall include a risk assessment of the incident, and corrective action. The provider shall cooperate with the competent authorities, and where relevant with the notified body concerned, during the investigations referred to in the first subparagraph, and shall not perform any investigation which involves altering the AI system concerned in a way which may affect any subsequent evaluation of the causes of the incident, prior to informing the competent authorities of such action.

Market Surveillance Authorities’ Role in Incident Handling

7. Upon receiving a notification related to a serious incident referred to in Article 3, point (49)(c), the relevant market surveillance authority shall inform the national public authorities or bodies referred to in Article 77(1). The Commission shall develop dedicated guidance to facilitate compliance with the obligations set out in paragraph 1 of this Article. That guidance shall be issued by 2 August 2025, and shall be assessed regularly.

8. The market surveillance authority shall take appropriate measures, as provided for in Article 19 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, within seven days from the date it received the notification referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, and shall follow the notification procedures as provided in that Regulation.

11. National competent authorities shall immediately notify the Commission of any serious incident, whether or not they have taken action on it, in accordance with Article 20 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020.

Special Reporting Rules for High-Risk AI

9. For high-risk AI systems referred to in Annex III that are placed on the market or put into service by providers that are subject to Union legislative instruments laying down reporting obligations equivalent to those set out in this Regulation, the notification of serious incidents shall be limited to those referred to in Article 3, point (49)(c).

10. For high-risk AI systems which are safety components of devices, or are themselves devices, covered by Regulations (EU) 2017/745 and (EU) 2017/746, the notification of serious incidents shall be limited to those referred to in Article 3, point (49)(c) of this Regulation, and shall be made to the national competent authority chosen for that purpose by the Member States where the incident occurred.

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About the author
Philip Mohr

Philip Mohr

Philip Mohr, a certified AIGP, is an AI governance consultant with over a decade of expertise in product management, data governance and privacy, leading initiatives at Addtrust (addtrust.com).

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