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Regulation Tracker / EU AI Act / Chapter III · Section 5

Article 40
Harmonised standards and standardisation deliverables

Chapter III — Classification rules for high-risk AI systems, Section 5 — Harmonised standards and standardisation deliverables. 3 distinct duties, powers or definitions are coded from this article, applying from 2026-08-02.

Amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 (Digital Omnibus on AI), in force 2026-07-27 — about 117 words changed. The text below is the consolidated version of 27 July 2026; the 2024 text and the amending regulation are on EUR-Lex.

official text: EUR-Lex (consolidated 27 Jul 2026) · text © European Union (Decision 2011/833/EU) · coding CC BY 4.0 · data: obligations.json · Hugging Face · GitHub

The text

1. High-risk AI systems or general-purpose AI models which are in conformity with harmonised standards or parts thereof the references of which have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 shall be presumed to be in conformity with the requirements set out in Section 2 of this Chapter or, as applicable, with the obligations set out in of Chapter V, Sections 2 and 3, of this Regulation, to the extent that those standards cover those requirements or obligations.

2. In accordance with Article 10 of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012, the Commission shall issue, without undue delay, standardisation requests covering all requirements set out in Section 2 of this Chapter and, as applicable, standardisation requests covering obligations set out in Chapter V, Sections 2 and 3, of this Regulation. The standardisation request shall also ask for deliverables on reporting and documentation processes to improve AI systems’ resource performance, such as reducing the high-risk AI system’s consumption of energy and of other resources during its lifecycle, and on the energy-efficient development of general-purpose AI models. When preparing a standardisation request, the Commission shall consult the Board and relevant stakeholders, including the advisory forum.

3. The participants in the standardisation process shall seek to promote investment and innovation in AI, including through increasing legal certainty, as well as the competitiveness and growth of the Union market, to contribute to strengthening global cooperation on standardisation and taking into account existing international standards in the field of AI that are consistent with Union values, fundamental rights and interests, and to enhance multi-stakeholder governance ensuring a balanced representation of interests and the effective participation of all relevant stakeholders in accordance with Articles 5, 6, and 7 of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012.

What it requires, coded

SafeLegalAI's reading of each duty in this article: who, what, from when, under which fine tier, and whether it reaches a firm, chambers, court or legal-AI vendor. Descriptive, not advice; the quoted words are the Regulation's.

  1. Art. 40(1)Scope or definitionHigh-risk

    High-risk AI systems and general-purpose AI models that conform to cited harmonised standards are presumed compliant only to the extent those standards cover the relevant requirements or obligations.

    "High-risk AI systems or general-purpose AI models which are in conformity with harmonised standards or parts thereof the references of which have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 shall be presumed to be in conformity"
    Who
    Provider, GPAI model provider
    From
    (Art. 113 second subparagraph)Chapter III Sections 1-3 apply from 2027-12-02 for Annex III high-risk systems and 2028-08-02 for Annex I high-risk systems under Art. 113(c) as amended; this row applies when the relevant high-risk rules bite.
    Legal practice
    Reaches legal-AI vendors or public bodies — Relevant to legal-AI vendors using harmonised standards to evidence conformity for high-risk or GPAI products.
    See
    Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 · Chapter III Section 2 · Chapter V Sections 2 and 3

  2. Art. 40(2)Delegated or implementing actNot tier-specific

    The Commission must issue standardisation requests for high-risk-system requirements and GPAI obligations, including resource-performance and energy-efficient model-development deliverables, after consulting the Board and stakeholders.

    "the Commission shall issue, without undue delay, standardisation requests covering all requirements set out in Section 2 of this Chapter and, as applicable, standardisation requests covering obligations set out in Chapter V, Sections 2 and 3, of this Regulation"
    Who
    Commission
    From
    (Art. 113 second subparagraph)
    Legal practice
    Institutional — Institutional standard-setting function with indirect impact on legal-AI vendors.
    See
    Art. 10 Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 · AI Board · Advisory forum

  3. Art. 40(3)Governance institutionalNot tier-specific

    Participants in AI standardisation processes must seek to promote innovation, legal certainty, Union competitiveness, global cooperation, and balanced multi-stakeholder governance in line with Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012.

    "The participants in the standardisation process shall seek to promote investment and innovation in AI, including through increasing legal certainty, as well as the competitiveness and growth of the Union market"
    Who
    Other
    From
    (Art. 113 second subparagraph)
    Legal practice
    Institutional — Indirect governance of standards that legal-AI vendors may later use.
    See
    Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012

Cite

Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, Article 40 (Harmonised standards and standardisation deliverables), as amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744, consolidated text of 27 July 2026, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/2026-07-27/eng#art_40 — text © European Union; only the Official Journal is authentic. Coding: SafeLegalAI (published by Cognesio LLP), "EU AI Act, structured", safelegalai.com/regulation/eu-ai-act/article-40, accessed 2026-09-08, CC BY 4.0.