Importer
An importer is a person established in the Union that places on the market an AI system that bears the name or trademark of a third-country provider. Before placing it on the market, the importer must verify that the provider has carried out the conformity assessment and prepared the required documentation.
The concept is defined in Article 3(6), the obligations in Article 23. The importer performs a gatekeeping role in the supply chain: it does not develop the system but is responsible for its first placement on the Union market when it originates from a third country. Under Article 23 the importer must verify that the provider has carried out the conformity assessment procedure, prepared the technical documentation, affixed its name and contact details to the system or its packaging, and applied the CE marking. If the importer considers or has reason to believe that the system is not compliant, it may not place it on the market until conformity is ensured, and must notify the provider, the authorised representative and the market surveillance authorities. This role rarely arises independently in the practice of Hungarian SMEs; it typically becomes relevant when a company sources an AI product directly from a non-EU manufacturer, without a Union-based distribution chain.
An SME that buys an AI product directly from a non-EU manufacturer, without an EU intermediary, can easily find itself in the importer role — which carries its own verification duty, not merely deployer-level use.
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Start freeRelated terms
- DistributorA distributor is any actor in the supply chain, other than the provider or importer, that makes an AI system available on the Union market without affecting its properties. Distributors carry a narrower, but not negligible, verification duty before and during distribution.
- Authorised representativeAn authorised representative is a person established in the Union and mandated in writing by a third-country provider to act on the provider's behalf towards Union authorities. A non-EU provider typically must appoint such a representative — as a condition of entering the Union market — before placing its system on the market.
- ProviderA provider is a natural or legal person that develops an AI system or a general-purpose AI model, or has one developed, and places it on the market or puts it into service under its own name or trademark, whether for payment or free of charge. Providers bear the Regulation's most extensive package of obligations: risk management, data governance, documentation, conformity assessment, CE marking.
Related questions in the knowledge base (Hungarian)
- Mi a különbség az importőr, a forgalmazó és a meghatalmazott képviselő között az AI Act-ben?Mindhárom ellenőrzési szerep, nem fejlesztői. Az importőr harmadik országbeli védjegyű rendszert hoz be az Unióba, és forgalomba hozatal előtt ellenőriz (23. cikk). A forgalmazó az ellátási lánc további szereplője, szűkebb ellenőrzéssel (24. cikk). A meghatalmazott képviselő a szolgáltató írásbeli megbízottja az Unióban (22. cikk).
- Vonatkozik az EU AI Act egy Európán kívüli cégre?Igen, két önálló kapcsolóelv alapján. A 2. cikk (1) bekezdés a) pontja az uniós piacra hozatalt köti a hatályhoz, a székhelytől függetlenül. A c) pont ennél tovább megy: a harmadik országbeli szolgáltatóra és alkalmazóra is kiterjed, ha az AI-rendszer kimenetét az Unióban használják.