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Does the EU AI Act Apply to You?

Answer five questions to see which parts of the EU AI Act may apply to one AI system.

Five questions

Short result without email

Based on EU 2024/1689

Indication, not a classification

The EU AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689) sets different duties for banned practices, high-risk AI systems, transparency duties and general-purpose AI models. Five questions show which of these may apply to one AI system. The result is an indication from your answers, not a legal classification. The high-risk rules apply from 2 December 2027 (Annex III systems) and 2 August 2028 (Annex I products).

Based on Regulation (EU) 2024/1689. For guidance only, not legal advice.

How the EU AI Act assessment works

The EU AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689) sorts AI practices and systems into groups with different duties: banned practices (Article 5), high-risk AI systems (Article 6, Annexes I and III), transparency duties for certain systems (Article 50) and duties for general-purpose AI models (Articles 53 to 55). The Act itself uses the terms “prohibited” and “high-risk”. “Limited risk” and “minimal risk” are common labels, not terms of the Act.

The tool asks five things: where the system is placed on the market or its output used (Article 2), your role, what the system does, how its output is used for decisions about people, and your documentation status. It checks them in a fixed order: scope, bans, GPAI role, high-risk uses, transparency duties. The result is an indication from your answers. The classification decision stays with you.

Groups of duties under the EU AI Act

Prohibited (Article 5)

Ten practices are banned, for example social scoring, manipulative techniques, untargeted scraping of facial images and emotion recognition at work or in education, with narrow exceptions. Eight bans apply since 2 February 2025; two more from 2 December 2026. Fines reach EUR 35 million or, for an undertaking, 7% of worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher (Article 99(3)).

High-risk (Article 6)

Systems that are safety components of products under Annex I laws (Article 6(1)), or that fall under one of the eight areas of Annex III (Article 6(2)), unless the Article 6(3) exception applies. The requirements of Articles 9 to 15 apply from 2 December 2027 (Annex III) and 2 August 2028 (Annex I). Annex I Section B products are covered only as Article 2(2) provides.

Transparency duties (Article 50)

Providers and deployers of certain systems must inform people or mark content: systems that interact with people, generative systems, emotion recognition, biometric categorisation and deep fakes. Article 50 applies from 2 August 2026.

No listed category

Systems outside the groups above carry no specific duty under the Act beyond AI literacy (Article 4). Voluntary codes of conduct are possible (Article 95).

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know if the EU AI Act applies to my company?

It applies to providers that place AI systems or general-purpose AI models on the EU market, to deployers located in the EU, and to providers and deployers outside the EU where the system’s output is used in the EU (Article 2(1)). It does not apply to AI systems used exclusively for military, defence or national security purposes (Article 2(3)). The five-question assessment above gives an indication.

What is a high-risk AI system under the EU AI Act?

A system is high-risk if it is a safety component of a product under the Annex I laws and that product needs a third-party conformity assessment (Article 6(1)). It is also high-risk if it falls under one of the eight areas of Annex III (Article 6(2)): biometrics, critical infrastructure, education, employment, essential services, law enforcement, migration and asylum, and justice and democratic processes. An Annex III system is not high-risk if it meets the Article 6(3) conditions, but profiling of natural persons always counts as high-risk. The high-risk rules apply from 2 December 2027 (Annex III) and 2 August 2028 (Annex I).

Is my AI system high risk under the EU AI Act?

It depends on the intended purpose of the system, not on the sector alone. Compare the purpose with the use cases listed in Annex III and with Article 6(1). The assessment above gives an indication; the classification decision stays with you, with counsel where the stakes warrant.

Which groups of duties does the EU AI Act use?

The Act regulates prohibited practices (Article 5), high-risk AI systems (Article 6), transparency duties for certain systems (Article 50) and general-purpose AI models (Articles 51 to 55). Systems outside these groups carry no specific duty beyond AI literacy (Article 4). “Limited risk” and “minimal risk” are common labels, not terms of the Act.

Do I need to comply with the EU AI Act if I'm not in the EU?

Yes, if you place AI systems or general-purpose AI models on the EU market, or if the output of your system is used in the EU (Article 2(1), points (a) and (c)). Providers outside the EU of high-risk systems must also appoint an authorised representative in the Union (Article 22).

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