EU AI Act enters its enforcement phase on August 2, 2026
General-purpose AI providers now face documentation, transparency and copyright duties under Articles 53 to 55.
The European Union's AI Act reaches its most-cited enforcement date on August 2, 2026, when the obligations on providers of general-purpose AI models under Articles 53, 54 and 55 begin to apply in full.
Article 53 sets out documentation and transparency duties: providers must keep technical files, summarise their training data at a level that supports meaningful public understanding, and cooperate with downstream deployers who need to comply themselves.
Article 55 goes further for models designated as posing systemic risk. Those providers are expected to run evaluations, track and mitigate systemic risks, and report serious incidents to the AI Office.
The practical read for enterprise buyers is straightforward. A production AI system in Europe now needs to carry its own evidence: what data trained it, which version is deployed, and what happened on any given call. The number in the report has to be the number that ran.