The EU AI Act's enforcement powers and penalty regime went live August 2, while the high-risk rules slipped to 2027-2028.

As of yesterday, Article 50 transparency rules, the penalty regime, and the Commission's actual enforcement powers over general-purpose AI model providers are in force. The AI Office can now demand documentation, run evaluations, order recalls or market restrictions, and levy fines, powers it lacked even though GPAI obligations nominally began August 2025. Meanwhile the Digital Omnibus amendment deferred the high-risk obligations originally set for this same date: stand-alone Annex III systems now fall due December 2, 2027, and AI embedded in Annex I regulated products August 2, 2028. If you were planning compliance work against an August 2026 high-risk deadline, you have 16 more months. You do not have more time on transparency.