Importer
An importer is an EU-established operator that places on the EU market an AI system bearing the name or trademark of a provider established outside the EU. Article 23 makes it verify conformity before selling.
Before placing a high-risk system on the market, the importer must verify that the provider carried out the conformity assessment, drew up the Annex IV technical documentation, affixed the CE marking, provided the declaration of conformity and instructions for use, and appointed an authorised representative where required. It must put its own name and contact details on the system or its packaging, ensure storage and transport conditions do not jeopardise conformity, keep a copy of the certificate and documentation for ten years, and refuse to place a system it considers non-conforming.
- Art. 3(6)
- Art. 23
Importer: why it matters
The importer is where the Act's extraterritorial reach becomes enforceable, because a third-country provider may be hard for an EU authority to touch while the importer is not. The verification duty is substantive, not clerical: an importer that ships a system knowing the documentation is missing takes on its own liability, and an importer that suspects a risk to health, safety or fundamental rights must inform the provider and the market-surveillance authorities. In practice this makes the importer role a commercial chokepoint — it will not sign until the provider's file exists.
Importer in practice
An EU distributor agrees to bring a Japanese manufacturer's AI-driven quality-inspection system into the single market under the manufacturer's brand. Before the first unit ships it has to see the declaration of conformity, confirm the CE marking is affixed, obtain the instructions in the languages of the member states concerned, and confirm an EU authorised representative has been appointed — and it must then keep that file for ten years, long after the commercial relationship may have ended.
Importer: the mistake people make
Confusing importer with distributor. The importer places a third-country provider's system on the EU market for the first time; a distributor makes an already-marketed system available further down the chain. The importer's verification duties are materially heavier, and putting your own trademark on the system escalates you again — this time to provider.
Importer: common questions
- What must an importer check before selling an AI system?
- That the conformity assessment was carried out, the technical documentation exists, the CE marking is affixed, the declaration of conformity and instructions for use are provided, and an EU authorised representative has been appointed where the provider is established outside the Union.
- How long must an importer keep documentation?
- Ten years from the point the high-risk system is placed on the market or put into service — a copy of the certificate where issued, the instructions for use and the declaration of conformity.
- What if an importer suspects a system is non-conforming?
- It must not place the system on the market. Where the system presents a risk under Article 79(1), it must additionally inform the provider, the authorised representative and the market-surveillance authorities.
Importer: terms that come up alongside it
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