European Observatory on AI Standards

The mark

Four rings, four movements.

The Observatory mark: four rings of twelve dots

The symbol is four concentric rings of twelve dots. They run from the inside out: Star Yellow at the core, with the largest dots and the smallest circumference, then Union Blue, then Signal Blue, then Translation Teal at the outer edge, its dots the smallest and most numerous per unit of arc. Each ring is a stage in the same passage — from the law, through the standard, to the system and the world it meets — and the Trustworthiness in Translation briefs are grouped beneath them here.

Explore

The whole series, on the rings.

Each dot is a brief, placed on the ring it belongs to — the innermost ring the law itself, the outer edge the world it meets. Hover, tap or tab through them; the ringed dot is live. Use the legend to isolate one ring.

21BRIEFS

The M/613 request

Ten areas, and how they interlock.

The standardisation request (M/593, adopted 2023; amended and replaced by M/613 / Commission Implementing Decision C(2025)3871) asks CEN-CENELEC to standardise ten areas. Seven are the essential requirements of Chapter III — with Article 15 split into accuracy, robustness and cybersecurity — plus the quality management system (Article 17) that wraps them and the conformity assessment (Article 43) that checks them. Risk management sits at the centre; select an area to see what it requires and where it connects.

9Risk10Data12Logging13Transparency14Oversight15Accuracy15Robustness15Cybersecurity17Quality mgmt43Conformity

The legal stack

One concept, six instruments.

The AI Act does not stand alone. It is a sectoral law built on the New Legislative Framework — the warm cluster below: Regulation 765/2008 (accreditation and the CE mark), Decision 768/2008 (the conformity-assessment toolbox) and Regulation 2019/1020 (market surveillance) — read alongside the 2012 standardisation regulation and explained by the Blue Guide. The larger nodes reach three instruments or more: those are where the whole stack converges. Select a concept, or an instrument to see what it carries; edge colour marks the instrument.

NEW LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORKReg.1025/2012Blue Guide2022AI Act2024/1689Reg.765/2008Decision768/2008Reg.2019/1020HarmonisedstandardStandardisationrequestPresumption ofconformityCitation inthe OJEUFormalobjectionEssentialrequirementsCommonspecificationsConformityassessmentCE markingNotifiedbodyAccreditationMarketsurveillance
Star Yellow ring highlighted
01The RegulationStar Yellow

The legal concepts as enacted. Largest dots, innermost ring: the source of authority, and the smallest circumference — few provisions, heavy weight.

Series Preface: What Standards Do to IdeasArt. 40; Reg. 1025/2012; Blue Guide §1, §4
Live
Voluntary by DesignReg. (EU) 1025/2012, Arts. 2(1)(c), 3(6), 5, 10, 11, 22
Live
The Text That Came BackReg. (EU) 2026/1744; consolidated 02024R1689; Arts. 4a, 6(1a)–(1c)
Live
No Safety Property Is Self-JustifyingArt. 8(1); Art. 9(5)(a)
Soon
Union Blue ring highlighted
02The harmonised standardsUnion Blue

The M/613 request and what CEN-CENELEC returns against it. The mandated technical translation of the concepts in the ring beneath.

The Second RequestArt. 40(2), 53–55, Annex XI; C(2025) 3871
Soon
Two Meanings of RobustnessArt. 15(1), 15(4); Recital 75
Soon
The Measurement Nobody OwnsArt. 15(2)–(3); Reg. 765/2008; ISO/IEC 4213; ISO/IEC 17025
Soon
Representative of What?Art. 10(3) vs 10(2)(f)–(g)
Soon
Fairness Becomes an Acceptance CriterionArt. 10(2)(f)–(g); Art. 9(5); Art. 4a
Soon
Human Oversight Is a Latency BudgetArt. 14(1)–(4)
Soon
Transparency Is a DocumentArt. 13 vs Art. 86
Soon
The Act's Answer to the Black Box Is LoggingArt. 12; Art. 19; Art. 26(6); Art. 72
Soon
The Same Input, Two RegulationsArt. 15(4) vs 15(5); Recitals 75, 76
Soon
Signal Blue ring highlighted
03Conformity assessmentSignal Blue

Testing, evaluation and the point at which a standard meets an actual system. More points, smaller each: obligation dispersing into practice.

Conformity by Reference to Documents That Do Not ExistArt. 40, 41, 43(1)(d); HAS assessment outcomes
Soon
The Provider Writes the ExamArt. 3(12), 3(13); Art. 6(3); Art. 25; Art. 80
Soon
Compliance Is a Property of Your OrganisationArt. 17; Art. 43(2); Annex VI; Module A
Soon
The System That Changes After the ExamArt. 3(23); Art. 43(1)(d), 43(4); Blue Guide 3-point test
Soon
The Loop, the Update, and the AgentArt. 15(4); Art. 3(23); Art. 25; Art. 96(1)(c)
Live
The HandoffArt. 14(3)(b); Art. 9(5); Art. 26
Soon
What the CE Mark Actually PromisesArt. 40; Art. 47–48; Art. 82
Soon
Translation Teal ring highlighted
04Surveillance and the worldTranslation Teal

Market surveillance, ISO/IEC work, third-country regimes, industry practice. The outer edge, where the European frame stops being exclusively European.

The Inspector Reads the Same StandardArts. 74–85; Reg. 2019/1020; Art. 99
Live
Words That Look AlikeArt. 3(20)–(22), 40, 43, 47–48; ISO/IEC 17000, 17029
Soon

On the horizon

Next year, the outer edge in full.

The further out the rings go, the less the European frame holds alone: agents that act across systems and borders sit exactly where surveillance, ISO/IEC work and industry practice meet. The 2026 annual report takes up that ground on its own — a single-theme study of AI agents under the Act, expected November 2026.