What are the penalties for breaching the EU AI Act?

The infringement determines the tier

Article 99 does not place every obligation in its EUR15 million tier. In particular, the Commission's literacy guidance says penalties for Article 4 are determined through national law. For undertakings, the ordinary Article 99 ceilings use the higher monetary or turnover amount, subject to the SME and other specific provisions. The turnover reference is the preceding financial year. The Act requires consideration of the circumstances, including gravity, duration and cooperation. For SMEs, the Article 99 rule uses the lower of the relevant monetary and turnover limits. Providers of general-purpose AI models have a separate Commission fine regime under Article 101.

Check who has enforcement authority

National competent authorities and the European Commission have different responsibilities. Use Ireland's current authority directory to identify the applicable national remit; do not infer it solely from the presence of personal data or from a firm's sector label. The European AI Office has the Union-level responsibilities allocated by the Act, including for general-purpose model providers. Any claim about individual criminal liability needs the relevant domestic provision and facts; it does not follow automatically from an organisation using AI.

Reviewed 4 October 2026. Sources: Article 99 penalties, Commission AI Act overview and timetable, classification, deployer duties, literacy guidance and AI Office of Ireland.