EU AI Act Market Surveillance Authorities

Market surveillance authorities are national public authorities that check whether products and systems on the EU market comply with applicable rules. Under Article 70 of the AI Act, each Member State must establish or designate at least one notifying authority and at least one market surveillance authority. A Member State can allocate work across multiple bodies according to its organization, while respecting independence and impartiality. It must publish contact information and designate a market surveillance authority as the Act’s single point of contact. Article 74 connects AI system enforcement to the EU market-surveillance framework in Regulation 2019/1020. Authorities can carry out market checks and use relevant powers under that framework. Their work is not identical for every system: the AI Act contains special provisions for certain regulated sectors and system types, and national arrangements determine which authority handles a particular case. Financial-sector authorities may have a designated role for AI used by regulated financial institutions, subject to the Act’s provisions. The Commission and AI Office also have defined EU-level powers, especially concerning general-purpose AI models, while national authorities retain their allocated responsibilities. The authority that receives a complaint may depend on where the system is placed on the market or used, what category it belongs to, and which issue is raised. A conformity assessment body is not the same as a market surveillance authority: the former assesses conformity in designated circumstances, while the latter enforces market rules. Data protection authorities also retain GDPR responsibilities when personal data is involved. An organization should not assume that the AI Office is the regulator for every AI system or that one national contact covers every adjacent legal issue. For a practical inquiry, identify the AI system, provider and deployer, intended purpose, affected country, possible AI Act category, and the nature of the concern. Then consult the Commission’s official list of national single points of contact and the Member State’s current authority designation.