Article 60: testing in real world conditions outside a sandbox

Article 60(1) provides that testing of high-risk AI systems in real world conditions outside AI regulatory sandboxes may be conducted by providers or prospective providers of high-risk AI systems listed in Annex III, in accordance with that Article and the real-world testing plan, without prejudice to the prohibitions under Article 5. The Commission specifies the detailed elements of that plan by implementing act. The third subparagraph of paragraph 1 provides that the paragraph is without prejudice to Union or national law on the testing in real world conditions of high-risk AI systems related to products covered by the Union harmonisation legislation listed in Annex I. Article 60(2) allows providers or prospective providers to test at any time before placing on the market or putting into service, on their own or in partnership with one or more deployers or prospective deployers. Article 60(3) provides that such testing is without prejudice to any ethical review required by Union or national law. Article 60(4), point (f), caps the duration: no longer than necessary to achieve its objectives and in any case no longer than six months, which may be extended by an additional six months subject to prior notification to the market surveillance authority with an explanation of the need. Article 60(4), point (g), requires that subjects belonging to vulnerable groups due to age or disability are appropriately protected. Article 60(9) expressly states that the provider or prospective provider remains fully subject to applicable Union and national law on any damage caused in the course of their testing in real world conditions. Chapter VI, which contains Article 60, is not among the exceptions in Article 113 and applies since 2 August 2026.

Many organisations call what they do a pilot and assume that keeps them outside the Regulation. Article 60 shows that this does not hold once you test an Annex III system in real world conditions with real people and real outcomes. A full regime then applies: a plan, prior approval, registration with a Union-wide unique single identification number, informed consent, and a hard six-month clock with a maximum six-month extension. The heaviest requirement in practice is Article 60(4), point (k): the predictions, recommendations or decisions of the system must be capable of being effectively reversed and disregarded. If you are testing a selection, scoring or triage system whose output feeds straight into the workflow with nobody able to reverse it, your design does not qualify, however careful your consent form is. Note the timing too, because it is commercially interesting. Chapter VI applies since 2 August 2026, while the core obligations for standalone Annex III systems only apply from 2 December 2027. The testing route is therefore open before the requirements themselves bite, and that is exactly the window in which to validate your design rather than rebuild it later. Finally, Article 60(3) leaves any ethical review required under other law fully in place, and Article 60(9) expressly states that you remain fully subject to the applicable law on damage caused during the testing.