Where the CRA puts SIEM Annex III Class I (7), Art. 7(1), Art. 7(2), Art. 7(4)
Item 7 of Class I names "security information and event management (SIEM) systems". The category exists for the reason Article 7(2) gives: products that primarily perform functions critical to the cybersecurity of other products, such as detecting threats across an estate, are treated as important because their compromise or failure degrades everyone relying on them.
A SIEM in the ordinary sense collects security-relevant events from many sources, normalises and correlates them, and raises alerts an analyst acts on. Where that is what your product is for, item 7 applies. As always, the binding scope is the technical description in the implementing act, not the marketing term.
Log analytics versus SIEM core functionality Art. 7(1), Art. 7(4)
The judgment here is the difference between a SIEM and a general-purpose log analytics or search platform. Many products ingest logs and let you query them, but a generic observability or business-analytics tool is not built around security event correlation, detection rules, and incident alerting the way a SIEM is.
Where security monitoring is the core functionality, the product is a SIEM for item 7. Where log search is a general capability used for operations, cost, or product analytics, the fit is weaker. The CRA does not draw this line in words, so resolve it against Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2392 and record how you reasoned, especially for a platform marketed across both uses.
Judgment call: The boundary between a SIEM and general log analytics is not fixed by the CRA text; the implementing act controls, and a dual-purpose platform is a documented close call.
What Class I changes: your conformity route Art. 32(1), Art. 32(2), Annex VIII
For a default-category product a manufacturer may self-assess under internal control (module A). For a Class I important product that choice narrows: internal control remains available only where you apply harmonised standards, common specifications, or a European cybersecurity certification scheme at assurance level at least "substantial", in full, to the relevant essential requirements.
Where you do not, or where no such standard yet exists, the product must go through EU-type examination plus conformity to type (modules B and C) or full quality assurance (module H), both involving a notified body. Plan for that lead time well before 11 December 2027.
Everything else is the ordinary manufacturer programme Art. 13, Art. 14, Annex I
Class I status changes the conformity route, not the substance. The essential cybersecurity requirements, vulnerability handling including a coordinated vulnerability disclosure policy, technical documentation, CE marking, and the reporting duties for actively exploited vulnerabilities and severe incidents apply to a SIEM as they do to any product in scope.