The Agency for Communication Networks and Services of the Republic of Slovenia hereby informs the public that, in accordance with the Act on the implementation of the Regulation (EU) laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence, the Republic of Slovenia is assuming a major part of the competence over the implementation of the Artificial Intelligence Act (Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council of the EU laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence). With the adoption of this Act, the Republic of Slovenia is not only fulfilling its European obligations, but is also among the EU's leading Member States in the implementation of the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act).
The Agency is designated as the single point of contact for the Republic of Slovenia under this Act. This means that the Agency will be the link for communication with the European institutions and all other national authorities for the implementation of the Act in the Member States. At the same time, the Agency will be the entry point for informing and raising awareness of the general public in understanding, implementing and applying the AI Act in a coherent manner, as it is assigned the task of raising awareness of the rights and obligations that the Act entails. To this end, the Agency will provide content through training, workshops and explanatory notes.
One of the most important competences conferred by the Act is the establishment of regulatory sandboxes for AI. These are of paramount importance for the ethical and safe use of AI, as they will allow innovative solutions to be found in a controlled testing environment from the development phase. This is crucial for companies and other organisations to ensure that the AI systems developed are compliant with the regulatory framework.
The Agency's takeover of the field also gives it the role of implementing and overseeing the implementation of the AI Act, namely overseeing the compliance of high-risk AI systems, which are defined as high-risk by the AI Act and, to a greater extent, assigned to the Agency's remit by the Act. However, the legislator has delegated part of the supervision of AI systems to other national authorities. In this context, the Agency will take on the role of coordinator of activities at national level, in the framework of the Supervisory Authorities' Panel, which will aim at ensuring a coordinated implementation of supervision and will cooperate with coordinators from other EU Member States and with the European Commission.
In addition, the Agency will maintain an official register of high-risk critical infrastructure AI systems. It will oversee the transparency obligations of providers and deployers of certain AI systems, as they will be obliged to inform users about the AI systems deployed.
The Agency adds that, in order to ensure the consistent implementation of the new tasks under the Law on the implementation of the Regulation (EU) laying down harmonised rules on AI, it will take all necessary steps to ensure the timely implementation of the new competences, including the establishment of a separate organisational unit, recognising that it is taking on a key role in ensuring the compliance of AI systems with the EU acquis and in fostering the safe and innovative development of AI at national level.
