EU AI Act Art. 3(1): AI system definition (scope of the Act)

Scope: decide, system by system, whether it is an AI system under the Art. 3(1) definition before any other duty is assessed

By Jorge García Aibar Reviewed 2026-09-24

From clause to evidence Build the artefact, then file every output it produces as a record that names AIGE-OBL-EUAIA-ART3-1. Drawn from chapter 08.

Text alternative

Clause: EU AI Act, Art. 3.
Duty holder: Provider + deployer.
Applies from: 2025-02-02, In force.
Artefact: Definitional decision record….
Layer: Layer 02 Inventory & Transparency.
Evidence record: Evidence record v1.
Record schema: Evidence record.
The same topic in 12 other frameworks; the crosswalk section below links each clause.

When this obligation applies The first date in the row's status, then each later step: filled once its date has passed, outlined while it is still ahead of the review date.

Data table: the dates

Dates of AIGE-OBL-EUAIA-ART3-1
Date	Step	Detail
2025-02-02	In force	Chapter I

Id: AIGE-OBL-EUAIA-ART3-1
Instrument: EU AI Act (post-Omnibus) law
Compared side by side: ISO 42001 vs EU AI Act · NIST AI RMF vs EU AI Act
Clause: Art. 3(1)
Duty holder: Provider + deployer (scoping)
Authority: National MSA
Applies from: 2025-02-02 In force · Chapter I
System class: All AI systems

The artefact that evidences it

Definitional decision record in the registry: definition applied, elements found, excluded family if any, reason, decider, date.

L2 Inventory & Transparency

What this obligation connects to Solid edges are direct relations, dashed ones looser (a case that cites the same article, a framework whose clauses only touch the topic); patterns and controls take the colour of their stack layer. Select a node to open it; the lists below give every relation in full.

Data table: every relation

Relations of AIGE-OBL-EUAIA-ART3-1
Family	Item	Relation
Patterns	Claims Substantiation Gate	Direct
Patterns	Downstream Use Register	Direct
Patterns	Use-Case Intake & Risk Tiering	Direct
Same crosswalk topic	AI Verify 9.12.1, 5.5.1	Core clause
Same crosswalk topic	China Algo. Rec. AlgoRec Art. 24	Core clause
Same crosswalk topic	China Deep Synthesis DeepSyn Art. 19	Core clause
Same crosswalk topic	China GenAI Measures GenAI Art. 17	Core clause
Same crosswalk topic	EU AI Act Art. 49, Art. 71, Art. 6, Art. 52	Core clause
Same crosswalk topic	ISO 42001 A.4	Core clause
Same crosswalk topic	NIST AI RMF GOVERN 1.6, GOVERN 1.7	Core clause
Same crosswalk topic	UK ATRS ATRS Tier 1	Core clause
Same crosswalk topic	CSA AICM STA-08, IAM-03	Related clause
Same crosswalk topic	GAO AI Accountability 3.1	Related clause
Same crosswalk topic	Korea AI Act Art. 33	Related clause
Same crosswalk topic	TC260 Framework 3.0 TC260 App. 2 II.2, TC260 4.4.1	Related clause

Patterns that build it

Use-Case Intake & Risk Tiering (layer 1 and 2)
Claims Substantiation Gate (layer 5 and 3)
Downstream Use Register (layer 2 and 1)

The same topic in other frameworks

From the topic crosswalk: the clauses filed under the same topics as this one. Mappings are illustrative, not a claim of conformity.

Inventory and registration

EU AI Act Art. 49 Registration (core)
EU AI Act Art. 71 EU database for high-risk AI systems (core)
ISO 42001 A.4 Resources for AI systems (core)
NIST AI RMF GOVERN 1.6 GOVERN 1.6: Mechanisms are in place to inventory AI systems and are resourced according to organizational risk priorities (core)
China Algo. Rec. AlgoRec Art. 24 Algorithm filing (core)
China Deep Synthesis DeepSyn Art. 19 Filing for public-opinion services (core)
China GenAI Measures GenAI Art. 17 Algorithm filing (core)
UK ATRS ATRS Tier 1 Summary information (the published record) (core)
AI Verify 9.12.1 Accountability: inventory AI systems and their data, tooling, computing and human resources according to risk priorities (core)
EU AI Act Art. 6 Classification rules for high-risk AI systems
TC260 Framework 3.0 TC260 App. 2 II.2 Identity and access management
TC260 Framework 3.0 TC260 4.4.1 CII registration and filing
EU AI Act Art. 52 Procedure
NIST AI RMF GOVERN 1.7 GOVERN 1.7: Processes and procedures are in place for decommissioning and phasing out AI systems safely and in a manner that does not increase risks or decrease the organization's trustworthiness
CSA AICM STA-08 Supply Chain Inventory
CSA AICM IAM-03 Identity Inventory
Korea AI Act Art. 33 Confirmation of high-impact AI
GAO AI Accountability 3.1 Documentation: catalog model and non-model components, along with operating specifications and parameters
AI Verify 5.5.1 Security: identify, track and protect AI-related assets (models, data, prompts, logs, assessments)

Source

Chapter 08, section EU AI Act, post-Omnibus, checked against its sources on the review date above.

Machine-readable

This obligation: /api/v1/obligations/aige-obl-euaia-art3-1.json
The register: /api/v1/obligations.json · CSV
Schema and stability promise: open data and API

Cite this obligation

García Aibar, J. (2026). EU AI Act Art. 3(1): AI system definition (scope of the Act) (AIGE-OBL-EUAIA-ART3-1). In AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis & Body of Knowledge (v0.5.0). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22956197. https://aigovernanceengineer.com/obligations/aige-obl-euaia-art3-1. CC BY 4.0

BibTeX

@misc{aige2026obligation,
  author       = {Jorge García Aibar},
  title        = {{EU AI Act Art. 3(1): AI system definition (scope of the Act) (AIGE-OBL-EUAIA-ART3-1)}},
  howpublished = {In AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis \& Body of Knowledge},
  year         = {2026},
  version      = {0.5.0},
  doi          = {10.5281/zenodo.22956197},
  url          = {https://aigovernanceengineer.com/obligations/aige-obl-euaia-art3-1},
  note         = {Version 0.5.0}
}