On September 9, 2025, the Directorate-General for Enterprises (DGE) of the French Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industrial, Energy and Digital Sovereignty published a draft designation of market surveillance authorities (MSAs) designated under the EU AI Act. This draft designation establishes a governance framework which, given the profusion of MSAs designated and numerous shared responsibilities involved, can be considered complex. It should be noted, however, that this draft does not create any new authorities, which means that most operators will refer to their usual regulators.
Overview of the market surveillance organisation under the EU AI Act in France
In France, seventeen authorities would be designated as MSAs. Among them, three would be responsible for overseeing the majority of AI use cases:
- The CNIL, French data protection authority (Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés) with 15 AI use cases.
- The DGCCRF, French directorate-general for competition, consumer affairs and fraud control (Direction Générale de la Concurrence, de la Consommation et de la Répression des Fraudes) with 14 AI use cases.
- The ARCOM, French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication (Autorité de Régulation de la COMmunication Audiovisuelle et Numérique) with 7 AI use cases.
It should be noted that when the DGCCRF and ARCOM receive AI use cases to oversee, they would almost always share them with at least one other authority. This situation would require a clear division of responsibilities between the MSAs from an administrative perspective, as well as enhanced coordination from an operational perspective to avoid overlap or duplication of tasks. The remaining MSAs are generally already designated as MSAs under other regulations, with one to three AI use cases to oversee per authority.
A tandem coordination would be established between the DGE on strategic aspects and the DGCCRF on operational aspects. It is also planned that these two directorates will sit on the AI Board:
- TheDGE is expected to be designated as the State representative on the AI Board (art. 65 of the EU AI Act).
- The DGCCRF is expected to be designated as the representative of the MSAs in the permanent sub-group for the cooperation and exchanges among MSAs and notifying authorities of the AI Board (art. 65 of the EU AI Act).
In addition, a pool of shared technical expertise, drawing on ANSSI (National Agency for Information System Security) and PEReN (Center of Expertise for digital platform regulation), would be set up to support the MSAs in their tasks of overseeing the compliance of AI systems. This system would provide uniform access to technical expertise for all authorities, thereby addressing recruitment difficulties in the face of a potential talent shortage or limited budgets, and centralising expertise.
Current Status of the Official Designation of Market Surveillance Authorities in France
However, this project is still awaiting approval by Parliament. Initially, the bill containing various provisions for adaptation to European Union law, known as the DDADUE Bill of November 2025 (‘projet de loi Ddadue de novembre 2025‘), contained provisions to adapt French law to the EU AI Act and formalise the designation of national competent authorities.[1] [2] The provisions concerning the designation of national competent authorities were later withdrawn from the bill submitted to Parliament.[3]
Thus, we currently have no information concerning the formalisation of this designation in France.
France’s approach regarding the designation of its national competent authorities
To conclude, France seems to have opted for decentralised market surveillance organisation, based on authorities already identified by operators, with coordination led by the Ministry of the Economy and centralised provision of the technical expertise required for the conformity assessment tasks carried out by the MSAs.
However, despite the publication of the draft designation of MSAs, the progress of the implementation of the EU AI Act in France is unclear and particularly delayed. France is still one of the States that has not yet designated its national competent authorities more than five months after the deadline set by the EU AI Act on August 2, 2025.
To stay informed about the next bills from the EU Member States to implement the EU AI Act, visit our website at AI-Regulation.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
S.P
[1] Not to be confused with the Law on various provisions for adaptation to European Union law of 30 April 2025, also known as the DDADUE Law of April 2025 (loi Ddadue du 30 avril 2025).
[2] French Senate. (2025). Dossier législatif – Projet de loi portant diverses dispositions d’adaptation au droit de l’Union européenne en matière économique, financière, environnementale, énergétique, d’information, de transport, de santé, d’agriculture et de pêche. [Legislative dossier – Draft law containing various provisions adapting to European Union law in the areas of economics, finance, the environment, energy, information, transport, health, agriculture and fisheries]. French Senate. Available at: https://www.senat.fr/dossier-legislatif/pjl25-118.html.
[3] Contexte. (2025). Pressée par les délais de transposition, la France finira de réguler l’IA plus tard. [Pressed by transposition deadlines, France will finish regulating AI later]. Contexte. Available at: https://www.contexte.com/fr/actualite/tech/document-contexte-pressee-par-les-delais-de-transposition-la-france-finira-de-reguler-lia-plus-tard_241050.
