EU sets two different cut-offs for AI marking: content and systems
Commission FAQ: outputs made available before 2 August 2026 need no retroactive marking, while systems already on the market have until 2 December 2026 to meet the machine-readable duty.
What this basis means: Regulatory filing, government body, court or industry association.
The Commission's FAQ on the AI Act draws a line between two grandfathering rules that are easily conflated.
The first runs on content. AI outputs generated and already made available before 2 August 2026 do not have to be marked retroactively, so a catalogue published before that date falls outside the duty.
The second runs on systems. Generative AI systems placed on the market before 2 August 2026 have until 2 December 2026 to meet the machine-readable marking obligation in Article 50(2). The extension comes from a new Article 111(4), inserted by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744.
The same regulation also amends Article 50(7), so it is not accurate to say that it leaves Article 50 untouched. What it does not do is move the date on which Article 50 begins to apply.
Tracked instrument EU AI Act, Article 50 (transparency obligations for AI-generated content)
Sources
- AI Act FAQ European Commission