Importer duties under the AI Act (Article 23)

Short answer: An importer is the party that places a high-risk AI system from a provider outside the EU on the Union market. Article 23 of the AI Act requires the importer to verify before import that the provider has done its job — conformity assessment, technical documentation, CE marking and the EU declaration of conformity — and not to import where there is doubt.

When are you an importer?

You are an importer if you place on the Union market an AI system bearing the name or trademark of a natural or legal person established outside the EU. It is the first link that brings the system, physically or digitally, into the internal market. If you put it out under your own name or trademark, or substantially modify it, you become a provider in law and the heavier high-risk obligations apply.

The verification duty before import

Before placing a high-risk system on the market, the importer must verify that:

• the provider has carried out the conformity assessment;
• the technical documentation has been drawn up;
• the system bears the CE marking and is accompanied by the EU declaration of conformity and instructions for use;
• the provider has, where required, appointed an authorised representative in the EU.

If the importer has reason to believe the system is not in conformity, it may not place it on the market until it is. Where there is a risk to health, safety or fundamental rights, it informs the provider and the market surveillance authorities.

Recording, retention and cooperation

The importer indicates its name, registered trade name or trademark and contact address on the system, its packaging or the accompanying documentation. It ensures that storage and transport conditions do not jeopardise conformity.

The importer keeps a copy of the EU declaration of conformity and the instructions, and keeps — for ten years — a copy of the certificate issued by the notified body available for the authorities. On a reasoned request it supplies all information and documentation needed to demonstrate conformity, in a language the authority understands.

Stop duty and collaboration

If a system already imported does not (or no longer) conform, the importer takes corrective action, withdraws or recalls it, and informs the provider and the authorities. It cooperates with any measure an authority takes to remove risks.

What to do

• Pin down your role: importer, distributor or in fact provider? That determines which article applies.
• Build an import checklist covering CE marking, declaration of conformity, documentation and authorised representative.
• Contract for it: require the provider to supply documentation and cooperation — see AI in contracts.
• Set up retention for ten years and name a contact point for authorities.
• Tie it to governance: anchor the verification in your AI governance framework.

The importer does not test the technology; it proves that someone else did. Without that proof, the system does not belong inside the EU.