EU AI Act · Executive Brief 2-minute read · Designed to forward
For the CEO

The EU AI Act becomes enforceable in 100 days. Here is what to know in two minutes.

If your company runs AI that affects EU residents, you are in scope, regardless of where you are headquartered. By August 2, 2026, the high-risk provisions of the EU AI Act are enforceable. Fines reach 35 million euros or 7 percent of worldwide annual turnover. The work to be ready takes six to twelve weeks. The decision in front of you is whether to start now or absorb the risk.

1. The deadline

August 2, 2026. The high-risk provisions of the EU AI Act take full effect for all in-market AI systems on this date. Prohibited practices have been enforceable since February 2025. General-purpose model obligations applied from August 2025. The high-risk deadline is the one most enterprises are now scoping toward.

2. The exposure

The fines are large enough that the conversation has moved from legal to finance.

7%
of global turnover for prohibited-practice violations (or €35M, whichever is higher)
3%
of global turnover for non-compliance with most other obligations (or €15M)
1%
of global turnover for incorrect or misleading information to authorities (or €7.5M)

3. The decision in front of you

A
Start the readiness work now. One week to assess, six to ten to remediate. Defensible posture by August 2. Cost is modest relative to the exposure.
B
Defer to Q3 2026. The deadline lands inside the work window. Late starts become public. The cost of remediation under deadline pressure typically exceeds the cost of the readiness program by a wide margin.
C
Accept the risk. Defensible only if the company has no AI in any Annex III category and no plan to deploy any. Most companies that believed this on first inspection were wrong on second inspection.

4. What ready looks like

Five things, all of which a conformity assessor can request in writing.

  • ✓A documented risk management system across the AI lifecycle.
  • ✓Data and data governance evidence per Annex IV.
  • ✓Technical documentation and per-decision record-keeping.
  • ✓Transparency disclosures and instructions for deployers.
  • ✓Human oversight measures, with evidence they are actually exercised.

5. The recommended next step

One conversation. Thirty minutes. We assess your AI surface against the Act, quantify your exposure, and tell you whether the readiness program needs to start this week or next quarter. There is no obligation to engage further; the assessment itself is useful even if you take it no further.

Next step

Book the Readiness Assessment.

One week. We map every Annex III system in your stack, quantify the fine exposure, and deliver the remediation roadmap your CRO and General Counsel can act on Monday morning.

Book the Readiness Assessment Run the Exposure Calculator

Prepared by Navedas Intelligence, the realtime decision governance platform. Detailed playbook at navedas.ai/eu-ai-act. For financial services-specific context, see the FinServ playbook.