Penalties
What an EU AI Act fine can actually reach
Every Article 99 band is a pair of figures and a rule for choosing between them. The rule is normally “whichever is higher”, and for a smaller undertaking it inverts — but not in every band, and not in the same way for an SME as for a small mid-cap. Set your turnover and size below and the comparison is done for you, with the provision that decided it.
1 What is your worldwide annual turnover?
Article 99 measures the preceding financial year, worldwide and for the undertaking as a whole — not the revenue of the product that breached, and not the turnover of the subsidiary that built it.
2 Is the undertaking an SME or a small mid-cap?
The Act takes these from other instruments: an SME is defined by Recommendation 2003/361/EC, a small mid-cap by Recommendation (EU) 2025/1099, through Article 3(14a) and (14b).
The band takes whichever of the two figures is higher.
3 What each band can reach
These are ceilings, not forecasts. Article 99(7) gives an authority ten factors to weigh, and the Act requires a penalty to be proportionate as well as dissuasive.
A prohibited practice
Article 99(3)Non-compliance with the prohibition of the AI practices referred to in Article 5.
€35mthe fixed amount · whichever is higher, under Article 99(3)
- €35mthe fixed amount
- €18m7% of turnover
An operator or notified-body obligation
Article 99(4)Non-compliance with the operator and notified-body provisions other than Article 5.
€15mthe fixed amount · whichever is higher, under Article 99(4)
- €15mthe fixed amount
- €7.5m3% of turnover
Bad information to an authority
Article 99(5)Supplying incorrect, incomplete or misleading information to notified bodies or national competent authorities in reply to a request.
€7.5mthe fixed amount · whichever is higher, under Article 99(5)
- €7.5mthe fixed amount
- €2.5m1% of turnover
Periodic penalty payments
Article 75c(5)Separate from the fines above, and not capped by them. Where the AI Office orders compliance and does not get it, it can impose up to 5% of average daily turnover for every day the operator holds out.
- €34kper day
- €1.0m30 days
- €3.1m90 days
- €13ma year
Arithmetic at the ceiling, not a prediction of what any authority would impose.
Who imposes them
The Act does not have one enforcer. Three bodies fine, and which one reaches you depends on what you are and what you built.
The default supervisor for everything not reallocated: high-risk systems, the Article 5 prohibitions, and the Article 50 transparency duties, in each Member State where the system is on the market.
Ceiling: €35m / 7%, €15m / 3% or €7.5m / 1% depending on the breach
Exclusive supervision of AI systems built on a general-purpose AI model where the model and the system come from the same provider, and of AI systems integrated into very large online platforms and search engines under the DSA. Also the sole enforcer against general-purpose AI model providers.
Ceiling: Article 99(3)–(7) amounts apply correspondingly, plus periodic penalties up to 5% of average daily turnover per day
Fines against Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies that fall within the scope of the Regulation.
Ceiling: €1.5m for a prohibited practice, €750,000 for other breaches
The AI Office’s exclusive remit has carve-outs that stay with national authorities:
- Systems covered by the Annex I, Section A harmonisation legislation
- Certain Annex III high-risk systems
- Law enforcement, border management and financial institution systems falling under Article 74(6)
- Systems used in the administration of justice
The regimes outside Article 99
Three sets of numbers sit elsewhere in the Regulation, each with its own population and its own body imposing them.
3% of annual total worldwide turnover in the preceding financial year, or €15 000 000, whichever is higher
The Commission. It reaches a failure to supply requested information or to give access for a model evaluation, not only the substantive duties.
More →€1 500 000 for a prohibited practice, €750 000 for any other breach
The European Data Protection Supervisor. Fixed amounts, with no turnover limb at all.
More →Periodic penalty payments of up to 5% of average daily income or worldwide annual turnover in the preceding financial year, per day
The AI Office. Compliance pressure rather than punishment: it runs from the date the decision appoints until the operator complies.
More →What decides where in the band you land
A ceiling is not a forecast. Article 99(7) directs an authority to weigh all the circumstances and, as appropriate, these ten factors — several of which reward having done something before the authority arrived.
- The nature, gravity and duration of the infringement and of its consequences, taking into account the purpose of the system and, where appropriate, the number of people affected and the level of damage
- Whether the same operator has already been fined by other market surveillance authorities for the same infringement
- The size, annual turnover and market share of the operator
- Any other aggravating or mitigating factor applicable to the circumstances, such as financial benefits gained or losses avoided
- The degree of cooperation with the national competent authorities
- The degree of responsibility of the operator, taking into account the technical and organisational measures it implemented
- The manner in which the infringement became known to the authority: in particular whether the operator notified it, and if so to what extent
- Whether the infringement was intentional or negligent
- Any action taken to mitigate the harm suffered by the affected persons
The bands, in the Act’s own terms
Article 99(3) — A prohibited practice
Non-compliance with the prohibition of the AI practices referred to in Article 5.
- Article 5
Article 99(4) — An operator or notified-body obligation
Non-compliance with the operator and notified-body provisions other than Article 5.
- Article 16 — obligations of providers
- Article 22 — authorised representatives
- Article 23 — importers
- Article 24 — distributors
- Article 25(2) and (4) — providers and operators along the value chain
- Article 26 — deployers
- Articles 31, 33(1), (3) and (4), 34 — notified bodies
- Article 50 — transparency obligations
Article 99(5) — Bad information to an authority
Supplying incorrect, incomplete or misleading information to notified bodies or national competent authorities in reply to a request.
- Any request from a notified body or a national competent authority
Where a single course of conduct breaches more than one of these, the bands do not merge: the authority is choosing a penalty for each infringement it finds.
What to do about it
The only band you cannot plan around is the first one, because a prohibited practice has no compliance route — it stops. Screen for that first with the risk classifier, then work the obligations in order with the checklist.
These figures are ceilings set by the Regulation, not legal advice, and what an authority imposes in any case turns on the Article 99(7) factors above. Member States set their own rules within these ceilings under Article 99(1), so the regime that reaches you is national law as well as this Regulation.