Governance and enforcement of the AI Act

The AI Office, established within the European Commission, and the national market surveillance authorities are responsible for implementing, supervising and enforcing the AI Act.

The AI Office is part of a multistakeholder governance that ensures a balanced approach to the implementation of the AI Act. This governance is steered by 3 advisory bodies:

• the European Artificial Intelligence Board, composed of representatives from the EU Member States
• the Scientific Panel, composed of independent experts in the field of AI
• the Advisory Forum, representing a diverse selection of stakeholders, both commercial and non-commercial

The July 2026 action plan on Cybersecurity and AI sets out a coordinated approach to help Member States, businesses and public authorities address cybersecurity and resilience challenges posed by the most advanced AI models. The Commission will launch a call to increase EU evaluation capacity of AI models, before they are placed in the EU market. Expected to be operational by 2027, this will strengthen third-party assessment of AI capabilities and risks and contribute to the regulatory function of the AI Office.

National competent authorities

The Commission and the AI Office work closely with national competent authorities, who supervise the implementation and application of the AI Act at national level.

National competent authorities are the following authorities:

• Market surveillance authorities supervise and enforce compliance with the rules for AI systems, including prohibitions and rules for high-risk AI.
• Notifying authorities designate and supervise notified bodies, which are independent bodies that carry out pre-market conformity assessment.

Each Member State should have designated and empowered national competent authorities until 2 August 2025. The Commission is working closely with the EU countries to support them in this process through the European AI Board.

Involvement of other authorities in AI incidents

Malfunctioning of AI systems can result in violations of fundamental rights laws, for example those protecting privacy or the right to non-discrimination. To facilitate effective investigations of such violations by the fundamental rights protection authorities, the AI Act provides rules that ensure cooperation and information flows between all authorities.

What rights does the AI Act introduce for fundamental rights protection authorities?

• Right to be informed by market surveillance authorities, e.g. about serious incidents.
• Right to request information, documentation and cooperation from market surveillance authorities.

What are the fundamental rights protection authorities who benefit from these rules?

These are public authorities or bodies in the member states that are empowered to supervise or enforce the respect of obligations under Union law protecting fundamental rights.

Each Member State must identify the relevant authorities and publish a list. 

Access the consolidated list of all identified authorities