EU AI Act penalties and fines
The EU AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689) sets four penalty tiers. The top cap is €35 million or 7% of worldwide annual turnover for prohibited practices, whichever is higher. Below, every tier with the exact article, cap, and effective date — plus a fine calculator that applies the Article 99(6) SME rule.
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Enter your worldwide turnover and pick a breach category. The calculator applies the higher-of/lower-of rule and shows which article governs. Not legal advice.
Four tiers
Every EU AI Act penalty cap
| Article | Breach | Flat cap | % of turnover | Applies from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Article 99(3) | Prohibited AI practices Placing on the market, putting into service, or using an AI system that falls under Article 5 (social scoring, real-time remote biometric ID in public for law enforcement outside narrow exceptions, subliminal manipulation, exploitation of vulnerabilities, untargeted facial-image scraping, emotion recognition in workplaces/schools, individual predictive policing based solely on profiling). | €35,000,000 | 7% of worldwide annual turnover | Applicable since 2 February 2025 (Article 113(a)). |
| Article 99(4) | Other operator obligations Breach of Articles 16 (provider obligations), 22 (authorised representatives), 23 (importers), 24 (distributors), 26 (deployers), 31 (notified bodies), 33(1), 33(3), 33(4), 34 (notified body obligations), and 50 (transparency). | €15,000,000 | 3% of worldwide annual turnover | Applicable from 2 August 2026 (Article 113). |
| Article 99(5) | Misleading information to authorities Supplying incorrect, incomplete, or misleading information to notified bodies or national competent authorities in reply to a request. | €7,500,000 | 1% of worldwide annual turnover | Applicable from 2 August 2026. |
| Article 101 | General-purpose AI model providers Providers of general-purpose AI (GPAI) models that infringe the regulation (Articles 53, 55), fail to comply with a Commission request, or refuse Commission access under Article 91. Fines are set by the Commission itself, not national authorities. | €15,000,000 | 3% of worldwide annual turnover | Applicable from 2 August 2026 (with GPAI obligations phased in). |
Article 99(6)
The SME and start-up rule
For SMEs and start-ups, whichever of the two amounts is lower applies — the opposite of the general higher-of rule. This is the key protective clause that stops a start-up from being wiped out by a proportional turnover fine. The Commission can also issue guidance on proportionality under Article 99(10).
Article 99(7)
How authorities set the actual fine
- • Nature, gravity, and duration of the infringement.
- • Whether the same operator has already been fined for a similar infringement.
- • Size, annual turnover, and market share of the operator.
- • Any financial benefit gained or losses avoided from the infringement.
- • Degree of cooperation with the national authority.
- • Degree of responsibility (provider vs deployer vs distributor).
- • Manner in which the infringement became known — self-reporting mitigates.
- • Adherence to codes of conduct or approved certification (Articles 40, 42).
Related
Next steps
- EU AI Act risk classifierFind out if your system is prohibited, high-risk, limited, or minimal.
- Article 43 conformity costEstimate what avoiding a high-risk fine actually costs.
- Article 73 incident report builderSelf-report incidents inside the 2 / 10 / 15-day window.
- EU AI Act framework hubObligations, vendors, and documentation checklists.
Sources. Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (EUR-Lex) — Article 99 (penalties) · Article 101 (GPAI fines). Effective dates from Article 113. Not legal advice.
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