The next date in the staggered application timetable of the EU AI Act is coming up at the beginning of August but will it be delayed? In this article we summarise recent news on the possibility of a "stop the clock" and our thoughts on what this could mean in practice.
The intended roll-out of the Act
When the EU AI Act came into force last year, it started the clock running on a timetable of key dates on which its provisions would start to apply:
- 2 February 2025 - obligations in relation to AI literacy and a limited number of prohibited AI use cases;
- 2 August 2025 - provisions on general purpose AI models (GPAI) and penalties (save for those applicable to providers of GPAI);
- 2 August 2026 - regulations on specified types of high-risk systems; and
- 2 August 2027 - regulations on high-risk systems incorporated within products covered by product safety legislation.
How might this change?
While the first of these dates passed without incident, there is now an element of uncertainty around whether the remaining dates may be revised as part of a wider push by the Polish Presidency of the EU Council to simplify regulation in the digital sector in order to make it easier to comply with and, in doing so, "support innovation and reduce burdens on businesses". This is being considered in the form of a "stop-the-clock" mechanism which would entail pushing back the dates of application if the various compliance tools, such as the GPAI Code of Practice mandated by the Act, are not ready in time.
It is not yet clear whether any revised timetable might be accompanied by amendments to the Act, though in a press conference at the beginning of June, the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Henna Virkkunen, indicated that this would not be the case: "...we are not planning to backslide...when we are talking about digital simplification, it doesn't mean we are downgrading the objectives...the main part is to look at how we can simplify the processes, how we can cut red tape and bureaucracy and reporting obligations...there is not any plan that we are going to change the main structure of our legislation."
What does this mean for businesses?
What this means in practice is that the scheduled roll-out of the EU AI Act is no longer certain.
The potential benefit of this is more time for businesses to prepare and more guidance as to how to do so, though it appears unlikely to deliver any longer term change in approach for those who view the EU legislation as too prescriptive.
The potential downside is that an Act which was already fighting to keep pace with the speed of progression of the technology it governs risks falling further behind, particularly if proposed amendments begin to be tabled. This, in turn, could have an impact on when (and perhaps even whether) the UK Government decides to proceed with putting in place its own AI legislation and what this legislation looks like.
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