French Presidency pushes for alignment with the new legislative framework in AI Act

France is proposing several changes to the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act to ensure better alignment with the new legislative framework, the EU's legislation that regulates market surveillance and conformity assessment procedures. The changes also relate to the designation of competent authorities and the high-risk AI database. The French Presidency, which leads the work in the EU Council, shared a new compromise text on Monday (25 April) that will be discussed with the representatives of the other member states at the telecom working party on Thursday. Notified bodies will play a crucial role in the enforcement of the AI Act, as they will be designated by EU countries to assess the conformity of the AI systems to EU rules before they are launched on the market. The new text refers explicitly to the EU regulation setting up the requirements for accreditation and market surveillance, and a reference that such bodies will have to respect confidentiality obligations has been added.