EU AI Act Fines: 35 Million EUR or 7% — Complete Breakdown

This article was drafted with AI assistance and reviewed for factual accuracy. AI-origin labeling applies under Article 50 of the EU AI Act. What Are the EU AI Act Penalty Structures? The EU AI Act establishes a tiered penalty system with maximum fines ranging from 7.5 million EUR to 35 million EUR depending on the violation category and the offending party’s annual turnover (European Commission, 2024). The three operator tiers under Article 99 are 35 million EUR or 7% for prohibited practices, 15 million EUR or 3% for high-risk and transparency obligations, and 7.5 million EUR or 1% for supplying incorrect or misleading information to authorities. For companies, the higher of the fixed amount or a percentage of global annual turnover applies. These penalties rank among the highest in EU digital regulation, comparable to GDPR fine levels. The European AI Office begins enforcement on August 2, 2026, and has indicated it will pursue a graduated approach — starting with information requests and corrective action orders before escalating to financial penalties. However, intentional non-compliance or failure to cooperate may trigger direct penalty proceedings (European Commission, 2024). Penalty Tiers and Maximum Amounts The following penalty tiers are established under Article 99 of the EU AI Act: Non-compliance with prohibited practices (Article 5): €35M fixed or 7% of global annual turnover — applies to any organization. Non-compliance with high-risk system obligations: €15M fixed or 3% of global annual turnover — applies to providers and deployers. Non-compliance with transparency obligations (Article 50): €15M fixed or 3% of global annual turnover — applies to providers and deployers. Failure to fulfill operator obligations (Articles 16, 22–26, 31, 33–34; includes cooperation and corrective-action duties): €15M fixed or 3% of global annual turnover — applies to providers, deployers, and other operators. Supplying incorrect, incomplete or misleading information to au