A German Manufacturer Just Asked Whether Your US-Built AI Talent Screening Tool Has an EU Importer Under Article 31 of the EU AI Act: Here's How to Answer

Your sales lead in Munich forwarded the questionnaire late on a Tuesday. A German automotive components manufacturer is evaluating your AI-powered talent screening and candidate ranking tool for their European HR operations. Their procurement team has added a pointed question at the bottom of the technical section:

"Is this AI system manufactured outside the European Union? If so, who is the EU importer, and how have they verified the system's conformity under Article 31 of the EU AI Act?"

This question trips up a large number of US-headquartered HR tech vendors selling into Europe. Here is what Article 31 requires, why German enterprise procurement teams now ask for it, and exactly how to construct your answer.

What Article 31 Requires

Article 31 of the EU AI Act establishes obligations for importers — companies or individuals established in the EU who place on the EU market a high-risk AI system manufactured by a provider established outside the EU.

If your company is headquartered in the United States, Canada, the UK post-Brexit, or any other non-EU country, and you sell a high-risk AI system to customers in the European Economic Area, you may need an EU importer. That importer is not a passive intermediary — Article 31 assigns them specific, substantive obligations before the system can be placed on the market.

Under Article 31, before placing a high-risk AI system on the EU market an importer must verify that:

• The provider has carried out the applicable conformity assessment procedure
• The provider has drawn up the technical documentation required under Annex IV
• The system bears the CE marking
• The system is accompanied by the EU declaration of conformity and instructions for use

The importer must also verify that the provider has registered the system in the EU database under Article 71, confirm the provider has a contact address in the EU, and ensure the system's storage and transport conditions do not jeopardize conformity with Chapter III requirements.

If an importer has reason to believe the system is not in conformity, they must not place it on the market until conformity is established.

Why German Enterprise Procurement Teams Ask This Question

Germany has a long tradition of rigorous supplier qualification in manufacturing. Tier-1 automotive suppliers and their HR teams have been auditing vendor compliance documentation for decades — it maps naturally onto EU AI Act procurement requirements. Large German employers — particularly those with works council oversight and strong union representation — face significant internal pressure to demonstrate that any AI system touching employee assessment or hiring has been properly certified before deployment.

The specific concern about importer status is this: if your AI tool is manufactured outside the EU and you do not have a registered EU importer, the product technically cannot be lawfully placed on the EU market as a high-risk system. A German procurement manager who discovers this after signing a contract has a serious vendor risk problem — they have deployed a system that may not be in conformity with EU law.

The question in your questionnaire is a qualification check. The procurement team is verifying that you have thought through EU market access, not just EU compliance content.

Who Counts as the Importer in Practice

For most US HR tech companies selling directly to European enterprise customers, the importer question resolves in one of three ways:

You have an EU subsidiary. If your company operates a subsidiary established in the EU — a German GmbH, a Dutch BV, a French SAS — that subsidiary can act as the importer. The subsidiary places the system on the market, takes on the Article 31 obligations, and is the legal entity whose name appears on the EU declaration of conformity. This is the cleanest structure and what most enterprise-ready US HR tech vendors with serious EU sales should have.

You have an authorized representative. Article 22 allows non-EU providers to appoint an EU-based authorized representative (AR) to act on their behalf. The AR is not the importer — the importer is distinct — but in many commercial structures the AR and the distributor/importer function overlap. If your contract with a European distribution partner includes importer obligations, clarify this in your answer.

Your EU customer is technically the importer. If you sell directly to a German company with no EU subsidiary or distributor in between, the German company may itself become the importer under the Act's definitions. This is legally possible but commercially awkward — most enterprise customers do not want to take on importer obligations for a vendor's AI system. If this is your current structure, flag it honestly in your questionnaire answer and commit to establishing an EU importer before go-live.

What Your Answer Must Cover

Name your EU importer or authorized representative. If you have an EU subsidiary or designated importer, name them, give their registered address, and state their role explicitly. If you have an authorized representative under Article 22, provide the same information.

Describe how conformity was verified before market placement. Explain the process by which your importer or your provider verified that the system had completed the applicable conformity assessment, that technical documentation under Annex IV exists, and that the EU declaration of conformity was drawn up before the system was offered to EU customers.

Reference your CE marking status. If you have CE marked your system (required before high-risk AI systems can be placed on the EU market), say so. If you are in the conformity assessment process and have not yet CE marked, state the expected completion date.

Confirm EU database registration. The EU AI Act requires high-risk AI systems to be registered in the EU database under Article 71 before being placed on the market. If your system is registered, provide the registration reference. If registration is pending, state when it will be completed.

The Short Answer for the Questionnaire

A direct, compliant answer looks like this:

"Our EU importer is [Company Name], a [German/Dutch/French] entity registered at [address]. Before placing this system on the EU market, our importer verified completion of the applicable conformity assessment, confirmed technical documentation under Annex IV was in place, and verified that the EU declaration of conformity had been drawn up. The system bears CE marking. EU AI Act database registration under Article 71 is [complete / in progress, expected Q[X] 2026]. Our authorized representative under Article 22 is [Name/address] and can be contacted for regulatory correspondence."

If your structure is less mature than this, answer honestly about where you are in the process — and provide a specific timeline for each open item. Enterprise procurement teams in German manufacturing understand build-out timelines; what they cannot accept is discovering mid-deployment that a vendor has not thought about EU market access at all.

What to Review Before Your Next European Enterprise Deal

Article 31 is not a documentation exercise — it determines whether your system is lawfully on the EU market. If you are a US-headquartered HR tech company with EU customers and no EU importer, authorized representative, or EU subsidiary on record, that is your next action item. It affects every high-risk AI system you are currently selling in Europe, not just the German manufacturer's deal in your pipeline.

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