EU AI Act — transparency rules are in force, high-risk deadlines pushed to 2027 and 2028
Since 2 August 2026, AI-generated content in the EU must be labelled and chatbots must disclose that they are not human. The "AI Act Omnibus" moves the high-risk deadlines to December 2027 and August 2028.
The European Union's AI Act has entered its most visible phase. Since 2 August 2026, the transparency obligations of the regulation apply across the EU, and the enforcement powers of the European AI Office and of national market-surveillance authorities are live.
What applies now
According to the European Commission's announcement of 2 August 2026:
- AI-generated or manipulated content, including deepfakes, must be clearly and visibly labelled and carry machine-readable marks.
- Users must be told when they are interacting with an AI system rather than a person, for example a chatbot, an AI agent or an avatar.
- Penalties for companies reach up to €15 million or 3% of global annual turnover; for EU institutions, up to €750,000. Proportionality applies to SMEs and small mid-caps.
The Commission published guidelines on how compliance can be demonstrated, a Code of Practice on transparency of AI-generated content, and a set of EU icons for labelling AI content.
What moved
The "AI Act Omnibus" package, on which the EU institutions reached political agreement on 7 May 2026, extends the compliance deadlines for high-risk AI systems, according to a client note by Latham & Watkins dated 13 May 2026:
| Obligation | New deadline |
|---|---|
| Stand-alone high-risk systems (Annex III) | 2 December 2027 |
| AI in regulated products / safety components (Annex I) | 2 August 2028 |
| Transparency and watermarking | 2 August 2026 (grandfathering to 2 December 2026 for generative systems already on the market) |
| New prohibition on AI-generated intimate content | 2 December 2026 |
Why it matters outside the EU
The AI Act applies to providers who place AI systems on the EU market or whose output is used in the EU, regardless of where they are established. For companies in Azerbaijan and the wider region that sell software, content tools or chat interfaces to EU customers, the labelling and disclosure rules are the first obligations that bite in practice.
