When does the AI Act enter into force?
ANSWER
The AI Act has not yet been published in the Official Journal of the EU. However, on 21 May 2024 the Council published the final version of the document. The Regulation itself will presumably be officially published in the coming days. From that moment, the time until entry into force will be counted — 20 days. As a rule, after that period expires there are 2 years (24 months) to prepare for the AI Act, similarly to the GDPR. This does not however apply to:
- prohibited systems — 6 months from the date of entry into force. This period also applies to general provisions such as territorial and material scope, as well as the obligation to build personnel competences (Article 4)
- as regards notifying bodies, management at Union level (e.g. the AI Office), general-purpose models (mainly concerning providers), penalties (except penalties for providers of general-purpose models) — 1 year (12 months) from the date of entry into force.
- high-risk systems specified in Annex I — 3 years (36 months) from the date of entry into force
The last deadline concerns systems that constitute safety-related components of products covered by Union sectoral legislation. Examples: toys, machinery, lifts, pressure equipment, medical devices.
