EU AI Act Article 49(1) — Registration of the provider and the high-risk AI system in the EU database
Providers must register themselves and each Annex III high-risk AI system in the EU database before placing it on the market or putting it into service; point 2 (critical infrastructure) systems are registered nationally instead
Where this comes from
Provision: Article 49(1) — Registration of the provider and the high-risk AI system in the EU database
Instrument: EU Artificial Intelligence Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689)
Citation: Article 49(1), with Article 49(4) and 49(5), Regulation (EU) 2024/1689
Text version: Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act), OJ L, 12.7.2024
Checked against the source: 2 September 2026
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, excluding point 2 (Art. 6(2)) — any one of these:
- Annex III high-risk areas includes Biometrics
- 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))
- Art. 49(1) covers Annex III systems 'with the exception of high-risk AI systems referred to in point 2 of Annex III'; Art. 49(5) provides that those point 2 (critical infrastructure) systems 'shall be registered at national level'. (AI Act Art. 49(1) and Art. 49(5))
- Art. 49(4): for Annex III points 1, 6 and 7 (biometrics; law enforcement; migration, asylum and border control), registration is made in a SECURE NON-PUBLIC section of the EU database. The obligation stands; its publicity does not. (AI Act Art. 49(4))
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. 49(1): the system is a high-risk AI system 'listed in Annex III, with the exception of high-risk AI systems referred to in point 2 of Annex III'. The duty attaches BEFORE placing on the market or putting into service; Annex III point 2 systems are registered at national level under Art. 49(5)
- 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
Sample acceptance criteria Landfall generates for this obligation:
- The registration reference, the date and the submitting person are recorded against the system
- A change to a registered particular (purpose, contact, status) creates a dated update record
- Withdrawal from service is recorded and the registration updated accordingly
- The record identifies whether registration was in the EU database or, for Annex III pt 2, nationally
- Test: putting an unregistered in-scope system into service is blocked
Evidence an auditor expects
- Process recordDocument reviewReviewed before placing on the market; entry kept up to date thereafter
EU database registration reference for the provider and the high-risk AI system (Art. 49(1) with Art. 71)
The registration entry or reference from the EU database referred to in Art. 71, dated BEFORE the system was placed on the market or put into service, with the Annex VIII Section A information supplied. For Annex III points 1, 6 and 7, evidence that registration was made in the secure non-public section (Art. 49(4)); for Annex III point 2, evidence of national-level registration (Art. 49(5))
- Process recordDocument reviewRecommended
Registration change log
Record of every update made to the registration entry and what triggered it, so the entry can be shown to have been current at any past date
Questions people ask
- Does EU AI Act Article 49(1) — Registration of the provider and the high-risk AI s… 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 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 49(1) — Registration of the provider and the high-risk AI s… is enforceable from 2 August 2026. Its current status is: in force.
- What evidence does an auditor expect?
- EU database registration reference for the provider and the high-risk AI system (Art. 49(1) with Art. 71); Registration change log.
Find out whether this one lands on you
Landfall's pre-scan answers the applicability question above for your product in minutes, then turns every obligation that applies into traceable engineering tickets with a citation chain your auditors can follow.
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.