EU AI Act Article 13 — Transparency and provision of information to deployers
High-risk AI systems must be transparent enough for deployers to interpret outputs and use them appropriately, with clear instructions for use
Where this comes from
Provision: Article 13 — Transparency and provision of information to deployers
Instrument: EU Artificial Intelligence Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689)
Citation: Article 13, Regulation (EU) 2024/1689
Text version: Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act), OJ L, 12.7.2024
Who it applies to
High-risk AI provider in scope — all of these:
- Service deploys AI systems in a professional capacity
- AI Act role is Provider or we provide some AI systems and deploy others
Annex III high-risk area (Art. 6(2)) — any one of these:
- Annex III high-risk areas includes Biometrics
- Annex III high-risk areas includes Critical infrastructure
- Annex III high-risk areas includes Education and vocational training
- Annex III high-risk areas includes Employment and worker management
- Annex III high-risk areas includes Essential public services
- Annex III high-risk areas includes Creditworthiness
- Annex III high-risk areas includes Insurance
- Annex III high-risk areas includes Law enforcement
- Annex III high-risk areas includes Migration, asylum and border control
- Annex III high-risk areas includes Administration of justice and democratic processes
…unless:
- AI Act scope exclusion is used exclusively for military, defence or national-security purposes or developed and used solely for scientific research and development
- Art. 2(3): the Regulation 'does not apply to AI systems where and in so far as they are placed on the market, put into service, or used with or without modification exclusively for military, defence or national security purposes'. (AI Act Art. 2(3))
- Art. 2(6): the Regulation 'does not apply to AI systems or AI models, including their output, specifically developed and put into service for the sole purpose of scientific research and development'. (AI Act Art. 2(6))
- Art. 6(3): an Annex III system is NOT high-risk where it does not pose a significant risk of harm to health, safety or fundamental rights, including by not materially influencing the outcome of decision making — which applies where the system (a) performs... (AI Act Art. 6(3))
Scope in the source's own terms
- Art. 2(1): the AI system is placed on the market or put into service in the Union, or the provider/deployer is established in the Union, or the output produced by the system is used in the Union
- Art. 6(2): the AI system falls within an area listed in Annex III and is therefore high-risk, no documented Art. 6(3) derogation applying (and it is ALWAYS high-risk where it performs profiling of natural persons)
- Art. 16(a) ('Providers of high-risk AI systems shall …'), read with Art. 3(3): the actor develops the system or has it developed and places it on the market or puts it into service under its own name or trade mark — or is its authorised representative under Art. 22
What engineering work it implies
- AI Transparency Notices (Chatbot, Emotion/Biometric, Synthetic Media)Foundation only
The three Article 50 disclosures as shippable components: an AI-interaction notice, an emotion/biometric exposure notice, and synthetic-media labelling with a...
- Annex IV Technical Documentation as CodeCovers part of it
A /docs/ai-system/ skeleton carrying the nine Annex IV sections, versioned with the code, plus a CI check that fails the build when a model version changes without a...
Sample acceptance criteria Landfall generates for this obligation:
- Instructions for use state the intended purpose and the conditions the system was designed for
- Known limitations, and the circumstances of use that may create a risk, are stated in the instructions rather than implied (Art. 13(3)(b)(iii))
- Declared accuracy levels and the metrics they are measured on are published in the instructions (Art. 13(3)(b)(ii), Art. 15(3))
- The human-oversight measures the deployer is expected to implement are described (Art. 13(3)(d))
- The output is presented so a deployer can interpret it — a bare score with no scale, confidence or basis fails this
Evidence an auditor expects
- Policy documentDocument review
Instructions for use supplied to deployers (Art. 13(2)-(3))
Instructions in an appropriate digital or other format containing concise, complete, correct and clear information relevant, accessible and comprehensible to deployers, and covering the Art. 13(3) items: provider identity and contact details; the system's characteristics, capabilities and limitations of performance including its intended purpose, accuracy/robustness/cybersecurity levels and the circumstances that may affect them; foreseeable misuse; input-data specifications; the human oversight measures under Art. 14 including the technical measures to facilitate interpretation of outputs; expected lifetime and necessary maintenance; and a description of the Art. 12 log collection mechanisms
- Technical controlTechnical audit
Output-interpretability features referenced by the instructions
Evidence that the interpretability affordances the instructions promise (confidence indications, feature attributions, uncertainty flags, output provenance) exist in the shipped system
Questions people ask
- Does EU AI Act Article 13 — Transparency and provision of information to deployers apply to my service?
- It applies when Service deploys AI systems in a professional capacity; AI Act role is Provider or we provide some AI systems and deploy others; and at least one of: Annex III high-risk areas includes Biometrics; Annex III high-risk areas includes Critical infrastructure; Annex III high-risk areas includes Education and vocational training; Annex III high-risk areas includes Employment and worker management; Annex III high-risk areas includes Essential public services; Annex III high-risk areas includes Creditworthiness; Annex III high-risk areas includes Insurance; Annex III high-risk areas includes Law enforcement; Annex III high-risk areas includes Migration, asylum and border control; Annex III high-risk areas includes Administration of justice and democratic processes. It does not apply where AI Act scope exclusion is used exclusively for military, defence or national-security purposes or developed and used solely for scientific research and development.
- When does this become enforceable?
- EU AI Act Article 13 — Transparency and provision of information to deployers is enforceable from 2 August 2026. Its current status is: in force.
- What evidence does an auditor expect?
- Instructions for use supplied to deployers (Art. 13(2)-(3)); Output-interpretability features referenced by the instructions.
Find out whether this one lands on you
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Not legal advice. Landfall maps regulatory obligations to engineering work for planning purposes. Its verdicts are not legal advice and create no attorney-client relationship — verify with qualified counsel before relying on them.