Market surveillance authority

Each Member State must designate at least one market surveillance authority (Article 70). It monitors, within its territory, that AI systems comply with the AI Act.

Its powers include: requesting technical documentation and, in justified cases, access to source code; carrying out tests and inspections; receiving serious incident reports and fundamental rights impact assessments; ordering a system to be corrected, withdrawn or recalled; and imposing penalties. It also handles complaints from anyone who believes the regulation has been breached.

Each country designates its own; in Spain, for example, the main one is AESIA. For some systems already covered by other laws (medical devices, financial services…), the authorities of those sectors act.