EU AI Act Implementation Timeline & August 2, 2026 Deadline
The EU AI Act phases in over four years. This page tracks each milestone, what's already in force, and what's coming next.
Countdown to High-Risk Enforcement
August 2, 2026 — Annex III Obligations
Already in Force
Prohibited Practices + AI Literacy
Article 5 prohibitions (social scoring, manipulative AI, untargeted scraping for facial recognition databases) and Article 4 AI literacy obligations apply since this date.
GPAI Provider Obligations
General-purpose AI model providers must comply with documentation, copyright, and (for systemic-risk-tier models) additional risk-mitigation obligations.
Upcoming Deadlines
High-Risk AI Obligations (Annex III)
Full compliance required for stand-alone Annex III high-risk AI systems: risk management, data governance, technical documentation, logging, human oversight, and conformity assessment.
Embedded AI in Regulated Products
AI systems that are safety components of products under existing EU sectoral legislation (medical devices, vehicles, machinery) reach full applicability.
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<p>Countdown by <a href="https://ai-agentree.com/eu-ai-act/">AI Agentree</a></p>What about the omnibus delay?
The April 28, 2026 trilogue ended without political agreement. Until any amending regulation is published in the Official Journal, the August 2, 2026 deadline is binding. <a href="/eu-ai-act/omnibus-update">Read our full omnibus take.</a>