EU rolls out AI code with broad copyright, transparency rules

[BRUSSELS] The European Union published a code of practice to help companies follow its landmark AI Act that includes copyright protections for creators and transparency requirements for advanced models.

The code will require developers to provide up-to-date documentation describing their AI’s features to regulators and third parties looking to integrate it in their own products, the European Commission said on Thursday (Jul 10). Companies also will be banned from training AI on pirated materials and must respect requests from writers and artists to keep copyrighted work out of datasets. If AI produces material that infringes copyright rules, the code of practice will require companies to have a process in place to address it.

The code of practice is voluntary and aims to help companies establish internal mechanisms for implementing the AI law. The regulation, which is going into force on a staggered timetable, establishes curbs on AI in general purpose and high-risk fields and restrict some applications. Rules impacting “general purpose AI” like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude will apply starting next month.

Breaching the AI Act can carry a fine of as much as 7 per cent of a company’s annual sales or 3 per cent for the companies developing advanced AI models.

The code, which still needs final sign off from the commission and EU member states, has been controversial and triggered a backlash from some technology companies, including Meta Platforms and Alphabet They complained that earlier drafts went beyond the bounds of the AI Act and created a new set of onerous rules. This month, European companies including ASML Holding, Airbus and Mistral AI also asked the commission to suspend the AI Act’s implementation for two years in an open letter this month calling for a more “innovation-friendly regulatory approach.”

The commission, which missed an initial May deadline to publish the code of practice, has so far declined to postpone the implementation. The code was drafted under the guidance of officials from the commission, the EU’s executive branch, which organized working groups composed of representatives from AI labs, technology companies, academia and digital rights organisations.

The commission will only start directly overseeing the AI Act’s application in August 2026. Enforcement will be in the hands of national courts, which may have less specific technical expertise, until then. Signing the code of practice will give companies “increased legal certainty,” the commission has said. BLOOMBERG