Placing on the Market: EU AI Act Definition (Article 3(9))

"Placing on the market" is a moment, not an actor. Under Article 3(9) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, it means the first making available of an AI system or a general-purpose AI model on the Union market. Three words carry the weight: first (a one-time event per system), making available (defined separately in Article 3(10)), and Union market (the anchor that pulls non-EU developers in). The moment, not the role, switches the obligations on.

The EU AI Act definition (Article 3(9))

Every word in Article 3(9) is load-bearing. First is the decisive one. Placing on the market happens once for a given system: the initial supply is the placing, and every later supply of the same system is just "making available" under Article 3(10). Union market is the geographic hook — it is why a developer in San Francisco or Singapore falls within scope the moment its system is first supplied in the EU, whether or not it is established in the Union.

Note what the definition is not: a person or a role. That distinguishes it from the provider (the who that carries the duties) and from the operator (the umbrella term for the value-chain actors). The provider is the actor; placing on the market is the act. The definition covers both AI systems and general-purpose AI models — GPAI provider obligations (Articles 51 to 55) are a separate Chapter V track, not the focus here.

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Why the moment matters: it triggers obligations

For high-risk AI systems, a stack of provider duties must be discharged before the system is placed on the market — not after, not in parallel:

• Conformity assessment under Article 43.
• Technical documentation under Article 11 and Annex IV, kept up to date.
• The EU declaration of conformity under Article 47.
• Registration in the EU database under Article 49.

The act of first making available also anchors the temporal reach of the Article 16 obligation stack for high-risk systems.

Most general business AI — productivity assistants, coding tools, search and RAG, marketing systems — is not high-risk. For those, placing on the market mainly engages Article 4 AI literacy and Article 50 transparency where output reaches third parties, not the full Annex IV and Article 43 stack.

Where the high-risk duties do apply, breaches of most provider obligations sit at Article 99(4): €15 million or 3% of total worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher; incorrect or misleading information to authorities sits at Article 99(5) (€7.5 million or 1%). Under Article 99(6), SMEs and start-ups are capped at the lower of the two.

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Placing on the market vs putting into service vs making available

Three Article 3 concepts get confused constantly. The table separates them.

Making available (Article 3(10))

Article 3(10) is the broad, repeatable genus. Free of charge is part of the definition — a free release still counts and is not an exemption.

Putting into service (Article 3(11))

Article 3(11) catches systems never sold on the open market — built and used in-house, for their intended purpose. Intended purpose is itself a defined term; see intended purpose.

How the three relate

The practical takeaway: a high-risk system entering the EU triggers obligations whether it is placed on the market or put into service. The Act pairs the two deliberately, so an in-house build is not exempt.

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When the obligations actually bite (timeline)

Placing on the market is the trigger event, but when the high-risk duties attach depends on the staggered application dates. As of June 2026:

• Article 5 prohibitions and Article 4 AI literacy have applied since 2 February 2025.
• GPAI model obligations (Articles 51 to 55) have applied since 2 August 2025.
• High-risk stand-alone Annex III systems (Article 6(2)): 2 December 2027, the date set by the Digital Omnibus, adopted in June 2026.
• High-risk product-embedded Annex I systems (Article 6(1)): 2 August 2027, deferred to 2 August 2028 under the same adopted Digital Omnibus.

The caveat must be stated plainly. The Digital Omnibus was adopted — the European Parliament passed it on 16 June 2026 and the Council adopted it on 29 June 2026 — so the deferral to 2 December 2027 for stand-alone high-risk Annex III is now settled; only publication in the Official Journal (expected before 2 August 2026) remains outstanding, as a formality. The deferral is fixed calendar dates — the "stop the clock" variant was rejected.

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How Confir helps

The hard part is rarely the definition — it is pinning the moment to a concrete release and tracing the duties that crystallise around it. Confir maps each system against Article 3(9), 3(10) and 3(11), flags whether a release is placing on the market or putting into service, and routes high-risk systems into the pre-market checklist with the live application dates attached. The synthesis engine is deterministic and rule-based — no model inference, no hallucination — so every classification traces back to the text of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689.

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Frequently asked questions

What does 'placing on the market' mean under the EU AI Act?

Article 3(9) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 defines it as the first making available of an AI system or general-purpose AI model on the Union market. It is a one-time event per system, not a repeated act. The word 'first' is decisive: every later supply of the same system is just 'making available' under Article 3(10). Because many provider duties crystallise at that act, identifying the moment precisely matters for compliance timing.

How is placing on the market different from putting into service?

Placing on the market (Article 3(9)) is the first supply of an AI system to the Union market, typically a sale. Putting into service (Article 3(11)) is the supply of a system for first use directly to the deployer, or for the provider's own use, for its intended purpose. The distinction matters for systems never sold: an organisation that builds an AI tool and uses it internally puts it into service without ever placing it on the market — and the obligations still apply.

Is placing on the market the same as making available?

No, but they are closely linked. Making available (Article 3(10)) is any supply of an AI system for distribution or use on the Union market in a commercial activity, whether for payment or free of charge. Placing on the market (Article 3(9)) is the first such making available — the broad, repeatable genus versus the specific, one-time species. Free distribution still counts as making available, so 'free of charge' does not exempt a system.

Why does the moment of placing on the market matter?

It is a trigger point. For high-risk AI systems, conformity assessment (Article 43), technical documentation (Article 11 and Annex IV), the EU declaration of conformity (Article 47), and registration (Article 49) must generally be completed before the system is placed on the market. Miss those and the breach sits at Article 99(4): €15 million or 3% of worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher. SMEs and start-ups are capped at the lower figure under Article 99(6).

When do these obligations apply for high-risk systems placed on the market?

Article 5 prohibitions and Article 4 AI literacy have applied since 2 February 2025; GPAI obligations (Articles 51 to 55) since 2 August 2025. Stand-alone high-risk Annex III systems apply from 2 December 2027, the date set by the Digital Omnibus, adopted in June 2026 — the European Parliament passed it on 16 June 2026 and the Council on 29 June 2026.

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Related terms

• Provider — who carries the obligations triggered at market entry
• Operator — the value-chain roles under the EU AI Act
• Intended purpose — the element in 'putting into service'
• Article 16 — provider obligations for high-risk systems
• Scope of the EU AI Act