CEN – CEN/CLC/JTC 21 published the first of many upcoming harmonised standards regarding the EU AI Act this July. EN 18286:2026 (full title „Artificial intelligence – Quality management system for EU AI Act regulatory purposes“) is available since 2026-07-22. Here is the official overview. Citation in the Official Journal of the European Union is expected for Directive 2024/1689 but no fixed date known at the time of writing.
The standard is linked to Article 17 of the EU AI Act („Quality Management System“), which requires providers of high-risk AI systems to implement a Quality Management System (QMS). This includes, among other requirements, the following: strategy for regulatory compliance, clearly defined techniques and procedures e.g. for design and verification, data governance, and incident management. The standard is 50+ pages long and in my view a strong first harmonised standard for complying with the EU AI Act. It sets out how to operationalize the regulatory requirements and serves as the final missing puzzle piece bridging the legal text and operational implementation. However, as with most standards, this is not a step-by-step guideline and organizations need to map the content to their specific context.
EN 18286:2026 is available through the respective portals of the national standards bodies, such as DIN in Germany or BSI in the UK. For an overview by CEN-CENELEC Joint Technical Committee 21 (JTC 21) on the upcoming harmonised standard see their official Standards Catalogue here. prEN 18228 (Risk Management) will likely be one of the next standards to go into publication. I will keep you updated.