Access to essential services: is it high-risk under the EU AI Act?
AI evaluating eligibility for public assistance benefits, creditworthiness / credit scoring, risk assessment and pricing in life and health insurance, and dispatching or prioritising emergency services.
Classification test
Falling in this domain is necessary but not sufficient. Under Article 6(2) the system is high-risk only if it also performs one of the specific functions the domain's text lists. Credit scoring for fraud detection and certain financial-stability uses may be treated differently — check the specific carve-outs.
Example systems
- Credit-scoring / creditworthiness models
- Public-benefit eligibility assessment
- Health/life insurance risk-pricing; emergency-call triage
If it is high-risk, these obligations apply
- Declare accuracy metrics in instructions for use — Provider
- Evidence robustness / resilience — Provider
- Evidence AI-specific cybersecurity — Provider
- Run a lifecycle risk-management system — Provider
- Govern training, validation and test data — Provider
- Assign human oversight and use per instructions (deployer) — Deployer
- Draw up & maintain the Annex IV technical file — Provider
- Classify the system against Article 6 / Annex III — Provider, Deployer
- Register in the EU database — Provider, Deployer
- Complete conformity assessment before market — Provider
All high-risk (Annex III) obligations → · How to classify under Article 6 →
Legal source
FAQ
Is access to essential services AI high-risk under the EU AI Act?
It is high-risk under Article 6(2) if it matches the Annex III access to essential services domain and performs a listed function. Credit scoring for fraud detection and certain financial-stability uses may be treated differently — check the specific carve-outs.
What must I do if it is high-risk?
Run a risk-management system, govern your data, keep the Annex IV technical file, evidence accuracy/robustness/cybersecurity, complete conformity assessment and register in the EU database.
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Subscribe — free, weeklyNot legal advice. This is a practitioner reference generated from a cited knowledge base built on the primary legal text and official Commission guidance. Verify against the cited primary sources before relying on it for a compliance decision. See editorial standards & methodology.