A little later than many expected but the i's have been dotted, the t's crossed, the lawyer-linguistic checks completed, the final votes passed, adoption has taken place through the corrigendum procedure, the Presidents of the EU Parliament and the Council of the EU have signed the Act and now the EU's AI Act has been published in the Official Journal. This long awaited and eagerly anticipated legislation will come into force 20 days from now 1 August 2024.

The now familiar staggered implementation means headline dates are: 

• 2 February 2025 - 6 months after entry into force: phase out prohibited systems
• 2 May 2025 - 9 months: codes of practice
• 2 August 2025 - 12 months: obligations for general purpose AI governance apply
• 2 August 2026 - 24 months: fully applicable including obligations for high risk systems in Annex III, e.g. biometric identification, categorisation and emotion recognition systems and employment, workers management and access to self-employment
• 2 August 2027 - 36 months: obligations for high risk systems defined in Annex I apply, e.g. AI systems used as safety components for medical devices 

For a more in depth analysis of the EU AI Act see our article here, and for those interested in what this legislation means for employers click here. More information can be found in our AI hub and of course if you have any questions please do get in touch with your usual LS contact.