Fundamentals of the EU Artificial Intelligence Act

The AI Act, Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, is the European Union's first comprehensive law on artificial intelligence. It applies to public and private organisations that develop, integrate or use AI, and it comes with fines of up to 15 million euros or 3% of worldwide annual turnover.

This guide covers the essentials: the deadlines, the parties involved, how systems are classified by risk, the penalties and where to start. It is written for the legal, compliance and risk teams who have to work out how their organisation uses AI and what that means.

When it applies

The Act applies in stages. The bans have applied since 2 February 2025 and the transparency obligations apply from 2 August 2026. The Digital Omnibus on AI, in force since late July 2026, moved the obligations for Annex III high-risk systems to 2 December 2027 and those for Annex I systems, the ones built into regulated products, to 2 August 2028.

Who it affects

• Providers
• Product manufacturers
• Importers
• Distributors
• Deployers
• Authorised representatives

What's in the guide

1. What the AI Act is forIts three aims and the legal definition of an AI system.
2. Timeline and rolesThe milestones from 2024 to 2028 and the six roles the Act defines, each with its own obligations.
3. Risk-based classificationWhich systems are prohibited and which count as high risk, from recruitment and lending to critical infrastructure and vote counting.
4. Penalties and first stepsThe fine regime, a short checklist to see whether the Act affects you and four actions to start with.
5. How GlobalSuite® helpsRequirement assessment, an AI system inventory with your role and risk level, a compliance plan and document approval workflows.

Where to start

List the AI systems you use and your role in each, classify them by risk, decide how each one is assessed and who oversees it, and document how AI is developed, integrated and used in your organisation.