The Artificial Intelligence Systems Act – what will Polish regulations cover?

Work on the draft law on artificial intelligence systems has been ongoing for nearly a year. The aim of the proposed regulations is to enable the application of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 on the establishment of harmonised rules on artificial intelligence (AI Act).

The AI Act is the first comprehensive legal act regulating the artificial intelligence sector within the framework of the EU single market, which requires coordinated legislative, administrative and organisational action by Member States and European Union institutions. Therefore, it is necessary for Member States to adopt national acts for the implementation of the above-mentioned regulation. The introduction of the Polish act is intended to enable the application of EU regulations, in particular in terms of the system and procedures.

Therefore, the proposed provisions concern, among other things:

- the designation of competent national authorities, i.e. the market surveillance authority and the notifying authority responsible for developing and applying the procedures necessary for assessing, designating and notifying conformity assessment bodies for AI systems, as well as for monitoring them;

- the imposition of administrative financial penalties for violations of the AI Act;

- the establishment of a procedure for enforcing the prohibition on the use of systems that meet the criteria for prohibited AI practices, including the possibility of lodging complaints with the competent national authorities for violations of the AI Act.

In addition, the new regulations will ensure the implementation of the objectives of the AI Act by supporting the development of artificial intelligence applications. The provisions of the Polish law will not apply to matters related to national defence, internal security and constitutional order. According to the draft, artificial intelligence systems made available under a free and open source licence will also be excluded from the scope of national regulations, unless these systems are placed on the market or put into service as high-risk AI systems or as AI systems covered by Articles 5 or 50 of the AI Act. The provisions will also not apply to systems put into service solely for the purposes of fundamental research, applied research and development work prior to the entry into force of the above-mentioned regulations.