EU AI Act deadlines and compliance calendar

Article 113 sets when the AI Act applies. Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 amended that schedule: it was published in the Official Journal, the EU's official legal publication, on 24 July 2026 and entered into force on 27 July 2026.

The amendment kept the general application date of 2 August 2026. It changed the dates for Chapter III Sections 1-3, which cover high-risk classification, requirements and operator duties, except Article 6(5). The dates below identify the exact provisions.

Use one row per deadline. List the affected system or model, legal provision, owner, required evidence, and an earlier internal completion date.

Chapters I and II began to apply on 2 February 2025. Assign someone to screen products and deployments for prohibited practices, and someone to support AI literacy for staff and others using AI on the organisation's behalf.

Since 27 July 2026, amended Article 4 requires providers and deployers to take measures supporting AI literacy development. Consider people's knowledge, experience and training, the system's context, and the people affected. The duty does not require a guaranteed individual literacy level.

Keep the training audience and materials, product-screening notes, and release decision. Update them when the system or its use changes.

General-purpose AI (GPAI) models can support many tasks and applications. Chapter V model-provider duties began to apply on 2 August 2025. They differ from the duties of an organisation using a supplier's AI product.

If you build a product with a supplier's model, assign product and procurement owners to collect model documentation and supplier contacts. Record whether you use the model, integrate it into a system you provide, or modify and supply the model yourself. That decision affects your legal role.

Since 2 August 2026, the general AI Act rules, most Article 50 transparency duties and Commission enforcement powers for GPAI providers apply. Final Article 50 guidance was published on 20 July 2026; use it to interpret the duties while checking the legal text.

Track each later deadline separately. The Article 50(2) transition ends on 2 December 2026 only for provider-side marking of synthetic outputs from systems placed on the market before 2 August 2026. National AI regulatory sandboxes, supervised settings for development and testing, must be operational by 2 August 2027.

For Chapter III Sections 1-3, except Article 6(5), the amended dates are 2 December 2027 for Annex III high-risk use cases and 2 August 2028 for Article 6(1) product-linked systems. GPAI models placed on the market before 2 August 2025 have their own 2 August 2027 transition.

Article 111 gives specific transitions to certain systems and models already on the market or in service. Check the first market or service date, design changes, intended public-authority use and model status against the relevant rule below.

Record the Article 111 conclusion beside the Article 113 deadline. A later date applies only if the system or model meets that transition's conditions.

EN 18286:2026 is a provider quality-management standard. CEN-CENELEC announced it on 31 July 2026. The Commission adopted Decision (EU) 2026/2274 on 12 October and published it on 14 October 2026, when it entered into force.

From 14 October, conformity with the standard supports a presumption of conformity: a legal assumption that the covered requirements are met. Annex ZA lists the conditions and exclusions. Providers still need evidence for requirements outside that coverage.

The citation leaves the Chapter III dates unchanged: 2 December 2027 for Annex III systems and 2 August 2028 for Article 6(1) systems, except Article 6(5). Use of the standard is voluntary; 14 October is not a deadline to obtain a certificate.

Link each row to the affected systems or models. Show the deadline, missing evidence, responsible owner and next decision so the team can act without rereading the whole law.

Use a legal deadline only when a source supports it. Track expected guidance and Article 112 Commission evaluations or reports as items to monitor, with no invented operator deadline.

Set an earlier internal completion date to allow for classification, implementation, evidence approval, supplier follow-up and release approval. Keep the legal deadline visible beside it.