Article 52 — Systemic-risk classification procedure (EU AI Act)

Article 52 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 — Systemic-risk classification procedure. Official text, practical interpretation, key obligations and compliance implications.

Article 52 — officially titled simply “Procedure” — governs how a general-purpose AI model formally becomes, or contests becoming, a model with systemic risk. It is the administrative hinge between the Article 51 classification criteria and the heavy obligations of Article 55.

Official Text Summary

Where a general-purpose AI model meets the condition of Article 51 — notably the presumption triggered when cumulative training compute exceeds 10²⁵ FLOPs — the provider must notify the Commission without delay and in any event within two weeks. The notification may include arguments that, despite meeting the threshold, the model does not present systemic risks; the Commission may reject those arguments and designate the model anyway, and may equally designate a model on its own initiative where the Article 51 criteria are met. Designated models are published on a Commission-maintained list, and a provider may request reassessment on the basis of a reasoned request showing the risks have materially changed.

Key Obligations

• Notify the Commission without delay, and at the latest within two weeks, once the Article 51 condition is met — including the 10²⁵ FLOPs training-compute presumption
• The notification may include arguments that the model, despite meeting the threshold, does not present systemic risk; the Commission may reject them and designate the model, or designate ex officio
• The Commission publishes and maintains the list of designated models with systemic risk
• On reasoned request of the provider, the Commission may reassess a designation

Compliance Timeline

Applicable since 2 August 2025, together with the rest of the general-purpose AI framework; the 2026 Digital Omnibus did not alter this date.