EU AI Act Article 4: What European SMEs Actually Need To Do
Article 4 has been law since February 2025. Most companies have done nothing. Here is what it actually requires — and the five concrete steps to be defensible by August 2026.
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Practical guidance for European SMEs. No legal jargon, no fearmongering — just what the regulation actually requires and what to do about it.
Pick the area you need. Each guide is written for European SMEs — plain language, no fearmongering, just what the EU AI Act requires and what to do about it.
AI Literacy & Article 4
What every EU business must do first: understand whether the Act applies, train staff, and meet the Article 4 AI-literacy duty.
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Free AI Tools and the EU AI Act: Does Article 4 Care About Price?
Thinking the free version of an AI tool keeps you outside the EU AI Act? It does not. Here is what Article 4 actually requires from deployers, regardless of what they paid.
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Does the EU AI Act Apply to ChatGPT? What Article 4 Actually Requires
If your staff are using ChatGPT at work, your company is almost certainly a deployer under the EU AI Act — and Article 4 already requires you to act. Here is what AI literacy really means in practice.
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Does EU AI Act Apply to ChatGPT in Your Office?
If your employees are using ChatGPT at work, your company may already have legal obligations under the EU AI Act. Here is what HR Directors and Compliance Officers need to know right now.
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High-Risk & Prohibited AI
Which AI uses are banned, which count as high-risk, and the duties that apply to HR, recruitment, chatbots and deepfakes.
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Annex III EU AI Act: The 8 High-Risk Categories Explained
If your company uses AI in hiring, credit scoring, or benefits decisions, you may already be operating a high-risk system under Annex III of the EU AI Act. Here is what each category means in practice.
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EU AI Act for HR Managers: The 2026 Compliance Guide
If your company uses AI in recruitment, performance reviews, or workforce planning, Article 26 makes you the accountable party. Here is exactly what HR teams must do before the August 2026 deadline.
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AI Act Article 50 Transparency: What Your Chatbots and Deepfakes Must Disclose
AI Act Article 50 transparency obligations are already in force for deployers using chatbots and synthetic content tools. Here is exactly what you must label, disclose, and document before your next customer interaction.
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EU AI Act Prohibited Practices: All 8 Bans Explained in Plain English
Article 5 of the EU AI Act bans eight AI practices outright, with fines up to €35 million or 7% of global turnover. Here is what every European deployer needs to understand before the February 2025 deadline.
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Recruitment AI and the EU AI Act: What Article 26 Means for HR
If your company uses AI to screen CVs or rank candidates, you are a high-risk AI deployer under the EU AI Act. Here is exactly what Article 26 requires you to do before the August 2026 deadline.
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Audit, Evidence & Governance
Build the paper trail: an AI inventory, a regulator-ready evidence file, ISO 42001 alignment, and who owns what under the Act.
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AI Compliance Evidence File: What EU Regulators Actually Want
An AI compliance evidence file is the single most important document bundle your company needs before August 2026. Here is exactly what goes in it and who owns it.
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EU AI Act SaaS Compliance: Are You a Provider, Deployer, or Both?
Most SaaS companies are simultaneously an AI provider and an AI deployer under the EU AI Act — and that dual role doubles your compliance obligations. Here is how to work out exactly where you stand.
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Build Your EU AI Act System Inventory in 30 Minutes
Every EU AI Act compliance obligation starts with one thing: knowing which AI systems you actually deploy. Here's how to build a complete AI system inventory in under 30 minutes.
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AI Act vs ISO 42001: What's the Difference and Do You Need Both?
The EU AI Act and ISO 42001 cover similar ground, but one is law and one is a management framework. Here's what each requires, where they overlap, and what European SMEs actually need to do.
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5 Questions a Regulator Will Ask First in an EU AI Act Inspection
When a national authority opens an EU AI Act regulator inspection, the first five questions are predictable. Here is exactly what they will ask, and how to have your answers ready before they knock.
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Enforcement, Deadlines & Fines
When enforcement starts, who enforces it, and what non-compliance with the EU AI Act can actually cost.
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EU AI Act Enforcement August 2026: What Changes on 2 August
The EU AI Act's next major enforcement date lands on 2 August 2026, bringing real fines and national authority oversight. Here is exactly what changes and what your company must do before then.
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EU AI Act Fines Explained: What a €35 Million Penalty Looks Like
The EU AI Act carries fines up to €35 million or 7% of global turnover. Here is exactly how those numbers work, who sets them, and what an SME can do to avoid the worst outcomes.
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AI & Data Protection (GDPR)
How the EU AI Act and the GDPR overlap — and how to stay compliant with both at once.
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EU AI Act vs GDPR: How the Two Regulations Interact in Practice
Running an AI tool that touches personal data means two regulators are watching, not one. Here is exactly how the EU AI Act and GDPR overlap, where they diverge, and how to cut your compliance workload in half.
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More EU AI Act guides
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EU AI Act Synthetic Data: When Generation Triggers Compliance Obligations
Generating synthetic data with AI tools is not a compliance-free shortcut. Here is exactly when EU AI Act obligations kick in, which articles apply, and what your organisation needs to do before your next dataset build.
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HR Tech Vendor EU AI Act Compliance: What ATS and Scoring Tools Must Do Now
If you sell AI-powered recruitment or performance management tools to EU customers, you already have obligations under the EU AI Act — and your buyers are starting to ask. Here is exactly what you need to know.
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EU AI Act CIO/CTO Playbook: Technical Obligations You Must Build For
The EU AI Act isn't just a legal problem. It creates concrete engineering obligations around logging, monitoring, and AI system inventory that CIOs and CTOs at European SMEs must build into their infrastructure before the August 2026 deadline.
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AI Act Serious Incident Reporting: What Article 73 Requires in Practice
Under Article 73 of the EU AI Act, deployers of high-risk AI systems must report serious incidents to national authorities within 72 hours. Here is exactly what that means for your organisation and how to do it.
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AI Act Article 6 High-Risk Classification: What Microsoft Copilot Means for Your Business
Microsoft Copilot is live in thousands of European SMEs right now. Whether it triggers AI Act Article 6 high-risk classification depends on a two-part test your IT and compliance teams need to run today.
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EU AI Act Open Source Models: What the Exemptions Actually Cover
Open source AI models get special treatment under the EU AI Act, but the exemption has firm limits. Here is what deployers using Mistral, Llama, or similar models actually need to know.
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AI Act, SOC 2, and ISO 27001 Alignment: One Audit Effort, Three Frameworks
If your company already runs SOC 2 or ISO 27001 audits, you're closer to EU AI Act compliance than you think. Here's how to map the overlapping controls and avoid doing the same compliance work three times.
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AI Act Compliance for the German Mittelstand: What Actually Changes
If your Mittelstand company deploys AI in hiring, customer service, or operations, the EU AI Act creates concrete obligations that start in 2025. Here is what changes, what stays the same, and what to do next.
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Annual AI Compliance Review Checklist for EU AI Act Deployers
Every deployer of AI systems in the EU must treat compliance as a living process, not a one-time project. Here is exactly what to check, update, and document in your annual AI compliance review.
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EU AI Act for Non-EU Companies: What You Must Do Before August 2026
If your company is based outside the EU but deploys AI systems to European users, the EU AI Act applies to you. Here is exactly what that means and what you need to do.
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EU AI Act Fine Calculation: How Regulators Actually Set the Amount
The EU AI Act sets three penalty tiers reaching up to €35 million or 7% of global turnover — but the final number depends on factors most SMEs have never heard of. Here is exactly how regulators calculate what you owe.
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AI Act Public Sector Compliance: What Government Deployers Must Do Now
Public bodies face some of the strictest obligations under the EU AI Act, from mandatory fundamental rights impact assessments to citizen-facing transparency rules. Here is exactly what municipal and central government deployers must do before the deadlines hit.
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GPAI Vendor Obligations Under the EU AI Act: What to Demand From OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google
Under the EU AI Act, general-purpose AI providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google have legal obligations to give you documentation and transparency. Here is exactly what your contracts should require.
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AI Chatbot EU AI Act Compliance: The SME Vendor Due Diligence Checklist
Deploying a chatbot without checking your Article 50 obligations first is a compliance risk you can avoid in an afternoon. Here is the exact vendor due diligence checklist every European SME needs before going live.
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DPIA vs FRIA EU AI Act: Do You Need Both, and When?
If your company uses AI that touches personal data, you may need both a GDPR Data Protection Impact Assessment and an EU AI Act Fundamental Rights Impact Assessment. Here's exactly when each applies and how to avoid doing double the paperwork.
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EU AI Act Article 86: The Right to Explanation Your HR Team Must Know
When a high-risk AI system makes a decision that affects someone, that person can now demand a meaningful explanation. Here is exactly what Article 86 requires, who must respond, and how your HR team should handle it.
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AI Bias Testing Under the EU AI Act: What Regulators Expect
Regulators are getting specific about what bias monitoring looks like for high-risk AI systems. Here is exactly what deployers need to document, test, and report under the EU AI Act.
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