SkarpChapter 22 of 25
Soft-Law Guidance, Penalties and Legislative Integration
The Act combines voluntary guidance with formidable sanctions and targeted amendments to existing Union legislation. Articles 95–110 show how responsible practices can extend beyond high-risk systems, how infringements are fined and how AI safety is integrated into sectoral regimes.
Chapter X: Why Codes and Guidelines Matter
Two tools, different roles
Article 95 concerns voluntary codes of conduct. Article 96 requires the Commission to develop practical implementation guidelines. Neither label should be treated as interchangeable.
Article 95(1)
The AI Office and Member States shall encourage and facilitate codes, including governance mechanisms. The source does not say that every provider or deployer must adopt one.
Exact voluntary-extension purpose
Codes are "intended to foster the voluntary application to AI systems, other than high-risk AI systems, of some or all of the requirements set out in Chapter III, Section 2".
Practical constraint
Article 95(1) says this work takes account of available technical solutions and industry best practices that permit application of the requirements.
Article 95: Designing a Voluntary Code
Measurable voluntary practice
Article 95(2) calls for voluntary codes with clear objectives and key performance indicators. A code therefore needs a way to assess whether it is achieving its stated goal.
Environmental and literacy elements
Possible code content includes "assessing and minimising the impact of AI systems on environmental sustainability" and promoting AI literacy for people developing, operating, or using AI.
Inclusive design
Article 95 includes "facilitating an inclusive and diverse design of AI systems", including diverse teams and stakeholder participation.
Who can create a code?
Providers, deployers, their representative organisations, or both may draw up codes. Civil society, academia, and other interested stakeholders may be involved.
SME lens
When encouraging and facilitating codes, the AI Office and Member States shall take into account the specific interests and needs of SMEs, including start-ups.
Activity: Turn a Principle into a Code Metric
Build a voluntary-code commitment
Choose one setting: an AI recruitment tool, a student-support chatbot, or an image-generation service.
Now turn one Article 95(2) element into a measurable voluntary commitment. Use this structure:
- Objective: What practical outcome is the code trying to achieve?
- Action: What will providers or deployers voluntarily do?
- KPI: What number, rate, or documented result will show progress?
- Stakeholders: Who should be involved under Article 95(3)?
Example response
For a student-support chatbot:
- Objective: Improve accessibility for students with disabilities.
- Action: Conduct accessibility testing before each major release and maintain a process for reporting barriers.
- KPI: Percentage of identified critical accessibility barriers resolved within the code's stated review period.
- Stakeholders: The provider, university deployers, student representatives, disability organisations, and academic experts.
Check your wording. Do not write that Article 95 itself makes this commitment compulsory for all AI systems. The Article says the AI Office and Member States shall facilitate codes concerning voluntary application. The commitment becomes part of the chosen code; the source does not prescribe one universal KPI or one mandatory code template.
Article 96: Commission Guidelines
Mandatory guideline development
Article 96(1) says the Commission shall develop guidelines on practical implementation. The Article lists particular topics, but calls them guidelines rather than codes of conduct.
Listed subjects
The listed subjects include Articles 8-15 and 25, "the prohibited practices referred to in Article 5", substantial modification, Article 50 transparency, Annex I relationships, and the AI-system definition.
Who must be considered?
The Commission shall pay particular attention to SMEs including start-ups, local public authorities, and sectors most likely to be affected by the Regulation.
Technical grounding
Guidelines must take due account of the acknowledged AI state of the art and relevant harmonised standards, common specifications, and technical specifications.
Updating
The Commission shall update guidelines when deemed necessary, on request of Member States or the AI Office, or on its own initiative.
Articles 97-98: Delegated Acts and Committee Procedure
What Article 97 regulates
Article 97 regulates how listed delegated powers are exercised. It is about the Commission's authority to adopt delegated acts under specified Articles, not a fresh list of operator duties.
Five-year delegation
The delegated powers "shall be conferred on the Commission for a period of five years from 1 August 2024". A Commission report is due no later than nine months before the period ends.
Tacit extension
"The delegation of power shall be tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration" unless Parliament or Council objects no later than three months before the end of a period.
Revocation
The delegation "may be revoked at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council". Revocation does not invalidate delegated acts already in force.
Objection window
A delegated act needs no objection "within a period of three months of notification of that act to the European Parliament and the Council". The period may be extended by three months.
Committee procedure
Article 98 says the Commission is assisted by a committee. "Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply."
Article 99: National Penalties and Fine Tiers
National enforcement design
Member States shall lay down penalty and enforcement rules. These may include warnings and non-monetary measures, but penalties must be effective, proportionate, and dissuasive.
Tier 1: Article 5
Prohibited AI practices: "administrative fines of up to EUR 35 000 000 or, if the offender is an undertaking, up to 7 % of its total worldwide annual turnover for the preceding financial year, whichever is higher".
Tier 2: operator and transparency duties
Listed operator, notified-body, and Article 50 transparency obligations: up to EUR 15 million or 3% of worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher.
Tier 3: information failures
Incorrect, incomplete, or misleading information supplied in reply to a request: up to EUR 7.5 million or 1% of worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher.
SME ceiling
For SMEs, including start-ups, the fine is "up to the percentages or amount referred to in paragraphs 3, 4 and 5, whichever thereof is lower".
Quiz: Identify the Correct Fine Tier
Check your Article 99 recall
A large undertaking intentionally supplies incomplete information to a national competent authority in reply to a request. Which Article 99 maximum applies before considering the facts of the individual case?
Focus on the type of infringement. This is not non-compliance with an Article 5 prohibition, and the question does not describe one of the listed operator or transparency obligations in Article 99(4).
Which maximum fine tier applies to supplying incorrect, incomplete, or misleading information in reply to a request?
- Up to EUR 35,000,000 or 7% of worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher
- Up to EUR 15,000,000 or 3% of worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher
- Up to EUR 7,500,000 or 1% of worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher
- Up to EUR 750,000 only
Show Answer
Answer: C) Up to EUR 7,500,000 or 1% of worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher
Article 99(5) applies to incorrect, incomplete, or misleading information supplied to notified bodies or national competent authorities in reply to a request. Its ceiling is up to EUR 7,500,000 or, for an undertaking, up to 1% of total worldwide annual turnover for the preceding financial year, whichever is higher.
Articles 99-101: Individual Assessment and EU-Level Fines
A ceiling is not an automatic outcome
Article 99(7) requires consideration of all relevant circumstances, including gravity, duration, consequences, affected persons, harm, cooperation, responsibility, intent, and mitigation.
National process safeguards
Member States decide the extent to which public bodies may be fined. Courts or other bodies may impose fines under national systems, but due process and effective judicial remedies apply.
Union institutions
Under Article 100, the European Data Protection Supervisor may fine Union entities. Article 5 non-compliance carries "administrative fines of up to EUR 1 500 000".
General-purpose AI models
Article 101 permits Commission fines for specified intentional or negligent failures by model providers: "fines not exceeding 3 % of their annual total worldwide turnover in the preceding financial year or EUR 15 000 000, whichever is higher."
Review
Article 101 gives the Court of Justice of the European Union unlimited jurisdiction over Commission fine decisions: it may cancel, reduce, or increase a fine.
Flashcards: High-Value Rules and Numbers
Flip each card and recall the exact rule
Use these cards to distinguish voluntary codes, Commission guidelines, delegated-power controls, and the four main fine ceilings in this lesson.
- Article 95(1): What is the purpose of voluntary codes?
- They are "intended to foster the voluntary application to AI systems, other than high-risk AI systems, of some or all of the requirements set out in Chapter III, Section 2".
- Article 95(2): What makes a voluntary code measurable?
- It is based on clear objectives and key performance indicators to measure achievement of those objectives.
- Article 96: Who must receive particular attention?
- SMEs including start-ups, local public authorities, and sectors most likely to be affected by the Regulation.
- Article 97: How long is the initial delegation?
- Five years from 1 August 2024, with possible tacit extension for identical periods unless Parliament or Council objects in time.
- Article 99(3): Prohibited-practice maximum
- Up to EUR 35,000,000 or, for an undertaking, up to 7% of total worldwide annual turnover for the preceding financial year, whichever is higher.
- Article 99(6): SME fine rule
- For SMEs, including start-ups, each fine is up to the percentage or amount in paragraphs 3, 4, and 5, whichever is lower.
- Article 100(2): Union-body Article 5 maximum
- Administrative fines of up to EUR 1,500,000.
- Article 101: General-purpose model-provider maximum
- Fines not exceeding 3% of annual total worldwide turnover in the preceding financial year or EUR 15,000,000, whichever is higher.
Articles 102-110: Integrating AI Safety Across Sectors
The integration formula
Across Articles 102-109, the repeated instruction is that "the requirements set out in Chapter III, Section 2, of that Regulation shall be taken into account".
Sectors covered
The amendments span aviation security, agricultural and forestry vehicles, motorcycles and quadricycles, marine equipment, rail, vehicle type approval, aviation, and vehicle general safety.
Marine equipment
Article 105 starts: "For Artificial Intelligence systems which are safety components within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689" and directs the Commission to take Chapter III, Section 2 into account.
Aviation
Article 108 states "Regulation (EU) 2018/1139 is amended as follows" and adds the same cross-sector requirement in six aviation-law locations.
Meaning of integration
The source requires Chapter III, Section 2 requirements to be taken into account in specified sectoral acts. It does not state that each sectoral law reproduces the high-risk requirements verbatim.
Final Quiz: Legislative Integration and Representation
Apply the source's wording carefully
Article 110 does not create another administrative-fine tier. Instead, it changes the annex to Directive (EU) 2020/1828 by adding Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 to that Annex.
Choose the answer that best describes what Article 110 says. Pay attention to the Article's legislative technique and exact opening phrase.
What does Article 110 do?
- It creates a EUR 15,000,000 fine for representative actions.
- It states: "In Annex I to Directive (EU) 2020/1828 of the European Parliament and of the Council (58), the following point is added" and adds the Artificial Intelligence Act as point (68).
- It requires every AI provider to bring a representative action.
- It replaces all sectoral safety legislation with Chapter III, Section 2.
Show Answer
Answer: B) It states: "In Annex I to Directive (EU) 2020/1828 of the European Parliament and of the Council (58), the following point is added" and adds the Artificial Intelligence Act as point (68).
Article 110 uses an annex amendment. Its load-bearing formulation is "In Annex I to Directive (EU) 2020/1828 of the European Parliament and of the Council (58), the following point is added". It adds Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, the Artificial Intelligence Act, as point (68). The source does not create a new Article 110 fine or require every provider to bring an action.
Key Terms
- AI Office
- The Union-level body named in Articles 95 and 96 that shall encourage and facilitate codes of conduct and may request updates to Commission guidelines.
- guidelines
- Practical implementation guidance that the Commission shall develop under Article 96 on the listed subjects.
- undertaking
- The term used in Articles 99 and 101 when fine ceilings are calculated by reference to total worldwide annual turnover.
- delegated act
- An act adopted by the Commission under delegated power, subject in Article 97 to consultation, notification, objection, extension, and revocation arrangements.
- notified body
- A body whose requirements and obligations are among those listed in Article 99(4).
- code of conduct
- A voluntary instrument encouraged and facilitated under Article 95, potentially containing governance mechanisms, objectives, and key performance indicators.
- tacit extension
- Continuation of delegated power for an identical period unless the European Parliament or Council opposes the extension within the stated time limit.
- safety component
- The category used in Articles 103-109 to trigger the instruction that Chapter III, Section 2 requirements shall be taken into account in sectoral measures.
- representative actions
- The subject linked in Article 110 through the addition of the Artificial Intelligence Act to Annex I of Directive (EU) 2020/1828.
- general-purpose AI model provider
- A provider subject to the Commission's Article 101 fine power for the listed intentional or negligent failures.