An AI standard almost no one is talking about became European law in March
ISO/IEC 42001 was published back in December 2023, but it is only now starting to have a real impact. In March, CEN approved the standard without changing a single word, making it EN ISO/IEC 42001:2026, a European standard. 34 countries, including Sweden, must adopt it as a national standard by September, which is now, as I write this.
This is the first certifiable standard for how an organization should govern and manage its AI systems. It is not about whether the AI itself is “safe” or “fair”, but whether there is a functioning management structure around it: risk assessment, documentation, responsibilities, monitoring and follow-up. The same logic as ISO 27001 for information security, but applied to AI.
The interesting part is the connection to the EU AI Act. Certification does not automatically mean compliance with the Act, but Article 40 gives harmonized standards a specific role in demonstrating compliance for high-risk systems. ISO 42001 is often highlighted as the standard that could play exactly this role. Companies that have already built their management system around ISO 42001 will likely be one step ahead when the requirements of the AI Act start to apply in full.
A few things make this less straightforward than it sounds. Certification takes 6–12 months and costs from the equivalent of a few tens of thousands of SEK and upwards, depending on the scope, with annual follow-up audits required to maintain certification. There is also already a shortage of auditors who understand both AI systems and management systems, which could mean longer waiting times and higher costs for companies that wait too long to get started.
This is exactly the kind of skills gap we at FutureSpex are seeing grow fastest right now. Are you considering whether it is time to start building AI governance expertise internally before demand for qualified AI governance professionals increases significantly? It is better to get ahead of the curve than to find yourself waiting in line with the rest of the market a year from now.
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