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Glossary termPublished inEU AI Act

Common specification

What does "Common specification" mean under the EU AI Act?

A set of technical specifications as defined in Article 2, point (4) of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 providing solutions for complying with certain requirements established under this Regulation:

'technical specification' means a document that prescribes technical requirements to be fulfilled by a product, process, service or system and which lays down one or more of the following:
  • (a) the characteristics required of a product including levels of quality, performance, interoperability, environmental protection, health, safety or dimensions, and including the requirements applicable to the product as regards the name under which the product is sold, terminology, symbols, testing and test methods, packaging, marking or labelling and conformity assessment procedures
  • (b) production methods and processes used in respect of agricultural products as defined in Article 38(1) TFEU, products intended for human and animal consumption, and medicinal products, as well as production methods and processes relating to other products, where these have an effect on their characteristics
  • (c) the characteristics required of a service including levels of quality, performance, interoperability, environmental protection, health or safety, and including the requirements applicable to the provider as regards the information to be made available to the recipient, as specified in Article 22(1) to (3) of Directive 2006/123/EC
  • (d) the methods and the criteria for assessing the performance of construction products, as defined in point 1 of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2011 laying down harmonised conditions for the marketing of construction products, in relation to their essential characteristics

Defined in / by

Last updated: 22 August 2026.

Regulations

  • EU Artificial Intelligence Act (EU AI Act)

    The EU AI Act is Regulation (EU) 2024/1689. On 2 August 2026 its transparency rules and enforcement machinery took effect, but the high-risk regime for credit scoring and life and health insurance pricing did not: Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 moved it to 2 December 2027. Prohibitions have applied since February 2025.

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