Compliance Briefing — May 21, 2024
The Council of the European Union gave final approval to the AI Act, clearing the last legislative hurdle before publication and staged enforcement.
Executive briefing: On May 21, 2024, EU ministers in the Council adopted the Artificial Intelligence Act, concluding the legislative process. The regulation now moves to publication in the Official Journal, triggering near-term prohibitions and phased obligations for high-risk and general-purpose AI systems.
Immediate compliance priorities
- Implementation roadmap. Finalize AI Act project plans covering prohibited practice wind-down, high-risk conformity assessments, and general-purpose model governance.
- Regulatory engagement. Identify competent authorities and market surveillance bodies in each EU jurisdiction where AI systems are placed on the market.
- Resource planning. Secure budgets for technical documentation, post-market monitoring, and legal support ahead of 2025 enforcement milestones.
Control alignment
- Policy updates. Embed AI Act roles, responsibilities, and incident reporting procedures into enterprise AI governance policies.
- Third-party management. Update procurement checklists to require AI Act conformity evidence from vendors and suppliers.
- Monitoring. Establish KPIs and dashboards to track readiness across business units deploying AI systems.
Enablement moves
- Engage in standardization initiatives to align with harmonized standards as they are published.
- Coordinate communications teams to brief customers and regulators on compliance milestones.
- Plan training for developers, product managers, and legal teams on final AI Act obligations.
Sources
- Council of the EU: Council gives final green light to the AI Act
- European Commission: European approach to artificial intelligence
Zeph Tech accelerates AI Act implementation with readiness diagnostics, conformity documentation, and monitoring for EU markets.