The EU AI Act, and what it asks of UK organisations

It is EU law with reach past the EU border. Whether it binds you turns on Article 2, not on where you happen to be registered.

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Much of the guidance a search returns still describes the timeline as it stood before 27 July 2026.

Checked against Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 as amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744. Last reviewed 12 August 2026.

EU AI Act scope

Who the Act binds

Article 2 sets the territorial scope

There are three routes into scope and all three are Article 2. Being outside the EU is not one of the ways out.

You are established in the EUArticle 2
A subsidiary, a branch or a group company inside the Union brings you in scope.
Your system is placed on the EU marketArticle 2
Selling, licensing or otherwise supplying an AI system into the Union counts.
Your output is used in the EUArticle 2
The Act reaches a UK organisation whose AI output is used inside the Union, even with no EU entity.

EU AI Act timeline

What applies now, and what is deferred

Four obligation sets are already in force. The two heaviest moved out to 2027 and 2028, so the question is no longer whether the Act has arrived but which parts of it have.

2 February 2025Prohibited practicesArticle 5in force
2 February 2025AI literacy dutyArticle 4in force
2 August 2025General-purpose AI modelsChapter Vin force
2 August 2026Transparency obligationsArticle 50in force
2 December 2027Annex III high-risk obligationsdeferred
2 August 2028Annex I product-embedded obligationsdeferred

Deferred, not cancelled.

Four guides, kept current

Does the EU AI Act apply to the UK?The EU AI Act timeline after the omnibus Transparency requirements in force now The AI literacy requirement

Ten questions.
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