Strengthened AI Oversight in the Netherlands

EU countries will need to designate supervisory authorities (SAs) for the EU AI Act by August 2025. Contrary to GDPR, for example, a single country is allowed to appoint multiple AI SAs. Furthermore, an SA could be appointed to supervise AI in healthcare, and a different SA to supervise AI in the banking and finance sector. Most EU countries are yet to decide on their approach to supervising AI, but we predict that several countries will appoint multiple SAs. Namely, the Netherlands has already appointed its Authority for Financial Markets and National Bank to handle market surveillance and the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate to oversee the use of AI in critical infrastructure, and all other SA tasks will be placed with the data protection authority. This fractured landscape will require an increased effort for organizations subject to the EU AI Act to stay on top of all decisions and guidance by their relevant SAs, which will especially be relevant in the early days of the EU AI Act, when a number of key concepts will not have crystallized yet.