Why it matters
The Act entered into force on 1 August 2024 and applies in stages. The prohibitions and the AI literacy duty have applied since 2 February 2025, the rules for general-purpose AI models since 2 August 2025, and most remaining obligations, including the Article 50 transparency duties, since 2 August 2026. The high-risk obligations come later, after Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 moved them back: 2 December 2027 for Annex III systems and 2 August 2028 for products regulated under Annex I.
Most organisations are deployers: they use AI systems under their own authority rather than build them. Their obligations are lighter than a provider's but concrete, and nearly all of them start from knowing which AI systems are in use and how each one is classified.
In the EU AI Act
Article 99
Fines reach 35 million euros or 7% of worldwide annual turnover for prohibited practices, and 15 million euros or 3% for most other obligations, including the deployer duties in Article 26.
How Qastel handles it
Qastel classifies every discovered system under the Act, keeps a continuous record of how your policies were applied, and produces the reports your DPO and auditors ask for.