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EU AI Act Compliance

The EU AI Act (Regulation 2024/1689) introduces mandatory requirements for AI systems based on risk classification. Annex III high-risk systems face the strictest obligations, with penalties up to 7% of global revenue.

ARQERA's governance API and evidence chain provide the technical infrastructure to meet these requirements.

Key Deadlines​

DateRequirement
August 2, 2025Prohibited AI practices banned
August 2, 2026High-risk AI system obligations enforced (Annex III)
August 2, 2027Full regulation in effect for all AI systems

How ARQERA Maps to EU AI Act Requirements​

Article 9 — Risk Management System​

Requirement: Continuous, iterative risk management throughout the AI system lifecycle.

ARQERA implementation: Every action is evaluated against 8 governance laws before execution. The risk_level context field enables risk classification, and the Safety Dominance law ensures high-risk actions receive additional scrutiny.

result = client.governance.evaluate(
"model.deploy",
description="Deploy fraud detection model to production",
context={
"risk_level": "high",
"is_irreversible": False,
"confidence_score": 0.94,
},
)

Article 11 — Technical Documentation​

Requirement: Maintain detailed technical documentation describing the AI system and its risk management process.

ARQERA implementation: Every governance evaluation is recorded as a tamper-proof evidence artifact. Use the Evidence API to export documentation for auditors.

curl -X POST "https://api.arqera.io/api/v1/evidence/export" \
-H "X-API-Key: $ARQERA_API_KEY" \
-d '{
"format": "pdf",
"from_date": "2026-01-01T00:00:00Z",
"to_date": "2026-06-30T23:59:59Z",
"include_chain_verification": true
}'

Article 12 — Record-Keeping​

Requirement: Automatic logging of events throughout the high-risk AI system's lifetime.

ARQERA implementation: The evidence chain provides cryptographically-linked, immutable records of every governance decision. The hash chain ensures logs cannot be tampered with.

# Verify chain integrity
curl "https://api.arqera.io/api/v1/evidence/verify" \
-H "X-API-Key: $ARQERA_API_KEY"

Article 14 — Human Oversight​

Requirement: High-risk AI systems must allow human oversight and intervention.

ARQERA implementation: The escalate verdict implements human-in-the-loop governance. When an action exceeds the AI's autonomy bounds, it is queued for human approval.

result = client.governance.evaluate(
"user.data.delete",
description="Delete inactive user accounts",
context={
"risk_level": "high",
"is_irreversible": True,
"has_approval": False, # No human approval yet
},
)

# result.verdict will be "escalate" — requires human approval
if result.needs_approval:
queue_for_human_review(result)

Article 15 — Accuracy, Robustness, Cybersecurity​

Requirement: Appropriate levels of accuracy, robustness, and cybersecurity.

ARQERA implementation: The confidence_score and min_confidence context fields enforce accuracy thresholds. The Monotonic Truth law prevents truth degradation. The Bounded Autonomy law constrains AI actions to verified capabilities.


Compliance Checklist​

Use ARQERA to satisfy these Annex III requirements:

RequirementARQERA FeatureHow to Verify
Risk managementGovernance Evaluate APIEvery action has a risk verdict
Technical documentationEvidence Export APIPDF/JSON exports for auditors
Record-keepingEvidence ChainHash-verified immutable logs
Human oversightEscalate verdictApproval queues and audit trail
Accuracy monitoringConfidence thresholdsGovernance context fields
Incident reportingEvidence Search APISearch by verdict, action, date
TransparencyPer-law evaluationsExplainable governance decisions

Compliance Dashboard​

ARQERA provides a built-in compliance dashboard in the web application:

  • Governance Verdict History — view all evaluations with filtering
  • Evidence Completeness — track coverage across compliance frameworks
  • Evidence Export — one-click exports for specific frameworks
  • Chain Verification — real-time integrity monitoring

Navigate to Governance > Compliance in the ARQERA dashboard to access these features.


What You Need to Do (Customer Obligations)​

ARQERA provides the governance infrastructure. But as a deployer of high-risk AI, you have obligations too. Here's a practical checklist:

Before August 2, 2026 (High-Risk Deadline)​

#ObligationArticleWhat You DoWhat ARQERA Provides
1Classify your AI systemsArticle 6Determine which of your AI use cases fall under Annex IIIRisk Classification API — assign risk levels per action type
2Register in the EU databaseArticle 49Submit your high-risk systems to the EU AI databaseAI Transparency Register — export registration data
3Appoint a human overseerArticle 14Designate who reviews escalated decisionsApproval workflows — HARD tier actions queue for named approvers
4Document your AI systemsArticle 11Maintain technical documentation for each high-risk systemEvidence Export API — generate PDF/JSON documentation on demand
5Establish loggingArticle 12Ensure all AI decisions are recorded immutablyEvidence Chain — automatic, cryptographically-signed logging
6Test for biasArticle 10Validate training data and model outputs for discriminationGovernance evaluation includes Non-Discrimination law
7Inform usersArticle 13Tell users when they're interacting with AITransparency logging — every AI action recorded with disclosure flag

Ongoing Obligations​

ObligationFrequencyARQERA Support
Monitor system performanceContinuousConfidence scores tracked per governance evaluation
Report serious incidentsWithin 72 hoursEvidence search by severity — export incident timeline
Update risk assessmentAnnual or on material changeCompliance Assessment API — run /compliance/eu-ai-act/assess
Retain logsDuration of AI system lifecycle + 10 yearsEvidence retention tiers (HOT → WARM → COLD, up to 7 years)
Cooperate with authoritiesOn requestEvidence Export — full audit trail in auditor-friendly formats

Prohibited Practices (Already Enforced)​

ARQERA's governance engine automatically blocks actions matching Article 5 prohibited practices:

  • Social scoring systems
  • Subliminal manipulation techniques
  • Exploitation of vulnerable groups
  • Real-time biometric identification in public spaces
  • Predictive policing
  • Emotion inference in workplace/education
  • Untargeted facial image scraping

These are enforced at the API level — your application cannot execute these action types through ARQERA, regardless of configuration.

Penalties​

ViolationFine
Prohibited AI practicesUp to €35M or 7% of global annual turnover
High-risk obligationsUp to €15M or 3% of global annual turnover
Incorrect information to authoritiesUp to €7.5M or 1% of global annual turnover

Getting Started​

  1. Run a compliance assessment: Navigate to Governance > Compliance > EU AI Act in the dashboard, or call POST /compliance/eu-ai-act/assess
  2. Review gaps: The assessment generates prioritised remediation steps with severity levels
  3. Export for your legal team: Use the Evidence Export API to generate documentation for legal review
  4. Set up monitoring: Enable compliance drift detection to catch regressions automatically

Next Steps​