EU AI Act Guidelines, Implementing and Delegated Acts: The Complete List

EU AI Act guidelines are non-binding Commission documents that explain how Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 applies; implementing and delegated acts are binding Commission acts adopted under powers the regulation confers. As of 24 October 2026 the Commission has published 4 guidelines and 2 draft texts, and 3 implementing acts are adopted, while no delegated act based on the AI Act is recorded in the Publications Office Cellar. Two codes of practice, two templates and four Commission Q&A and FAQ pages complete the guidance.

The regulation passed the legislative procedure and was published in the Official Journal on 12 July 2024 as Regulation (EU) 2024/1689. The EU AI Act has been in force since 1 August 2024 and is amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 of 8 July 2026, in force since 27 July 2026, which also rewrote five provisions on Commission guidance. This register dates every instrument as of 24 October 2026 and gives its legal basis, its status and the provision it serves.

Compiled by the AIActGuide.net Editorial Team from the Official Journal text and Commission documents; how we check every statement: methodology.

What Are EU AI Act Guidelines, Implementing Acts and Delegated Acts?

Four instrument types implement the AI Act: Commission guidelines (Article 96), codes of practice (Articles 50(7) and 56), implementing acts and delegated acts (Article 97). Each type rests on its own legal basis:

• Commission guidelines: Communications under Article 96(1), points (a) to (g), such as the guidelines on prohibited practices.
• Codes of practice: voluntary codes for general-purpose AI models (Article 56) and for marking and labelling AI-generated content (Article 50(7)), assessed by the Commission for adequacy.
• Implementing acts: binding Commission acts under a specific empowerment, such as Article 68(1) on the scientific panel.
• Delegated acts: binding Commission acts adopted under one of the 14 empowerments governed by Article 97, such as Article 7(1) on Annex III use cases.

Chapter X of the regulation, "Codes of conduct and guidelines", holds Articles 95 and 96 and applies since 2 August 2026. Article 96 is the general guideline mandate, while Articles 6(5), 72(3) and 73(7) set separate mandates for classification, post-market monitoring and serious-incident guidance.

Legal Effect: Binding Acts, Non-Binding Guidelines and Voluntary Codes

Implementing and delegated acts bind like the regulation itself, while guidelines and Q&As are non-binding Communications and codes of practice are voluntary and give no presumption of conformity. A presumption of conformity comes only from harmonised standards whose references are published in the Official Journal. The first is EN 18286:2026 on quality management systems, cited by Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/2274, which gives a presumption of conformity with the Article 17 requirements it covers since 14 October 2026.

Guidelines still shape practice because they record how the Commission reads a provision, such as the indicative 10^23 FLOP criterion in guidelines C(2025) 7719, which appears nowhere in the act. The EU AI Act summary places Chapter X among the 13 chapters of the regulation. The act itself sets the systemic-risk presumption at more than 10^25 FLOP (Article 51(2)).

The Register: Every Commission Document under the AI Act as of 24 October 2026

As of 24 October 2026 the Commission has published 4 guidelines and 2 drafts, found 2 codes of practice adequate and adopted 3 implementing acts, and no delegated act is recorded under the AI Act.

Published Commission Guidelines

Four Commission guidelines are published: prohibited AI practices, the AI system definition, general-purpose AI model obligations and the Article 50 transparency obligations.

Three of the four guidelines carry two references: the date on which the Commission approved and published the content, and a later formal C-number. The Article 50 guidelines have one reference, C(2026) 5054 final, for content approved and published on 20 July 2026.

Codes of Practice, Templates and Q&As

Two codes of practice, two GPAI templates and four Commission Q&A and FAQ pages complete the published guidance.

Both codes are voluntary instruments that the Commission assessed and found adequate. The Q&A and FAQ pages show only update dates, and the four Digital Omnibus answers of the Service Desk FAQ still follow proposal COM(2025) 836, so they do not describe the adopted text.

Draft Guidelines and Guidance under Consultation

Two Commission texts are drafts on 24 October 2026: the Article 6(5) guidelines on high-risk classification (draft of 19 May 2026) and the Article 73 serious-incident guidance and template (draft of 26 September 2025).

Each text is cited here only with its draft date, because a draft is not the Commission's final reading. The paragraph numbers of the Article 6(5) draft are not stable references, and the Commission page on the classification guidelines, updated on 19 October 2026, gives no adoption date.

Adopted Implementing Acts and Pending Drafts

Three implementing acts are adopted under the AI Act: Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/454 on the scientific panel, Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1755 on Commission proceedings and Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/2274 citing EN 18286:2026.

Two further implementing acts, on sandboxes under Article 58(1) and on AI Office procedures under Articles 75c and 75d(3), are pending drafts and neither is adopted as of 24 October 2026. The fallback rules of Articles 50(7) and 56(9) stay unused because the Commission found both codes adequate.

Delegated-Act Empowerments under Article 97

Article 97 empowers the Commission to adopt delegated acts under 14 provisions, and no delegated act based on the AI Act is recorded in the Publications Office Cellar as of 24 October 2026.

Delegations run for five years, tacitly extended unless the European Parliament or the Council opposes no later than three months before the end of each period (Article 97(2)). A delegated act enters into force only if neither institution objects within three months of notification, extendable by three months at the initiative of the European Parliament or the Council (Article 97(6)).

The Article 96 Mandate: Seven Points and Their Status

Article 96(1) requires Commission guidelines on seven subjects, points (a) to (g); three have published guidelines and four have no published text as of 24 October 2026.

Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 replaced point (a), added point (g) and replaced the second subparagraph, so the Commission now involves the AI Board and considers small mid-caps when it prepares guidelines. Point (g) is the only point with a statutory date.

Statutory Deadlines for Commission Guidance: Missed and Upcoming

Three statutory deadlines for Commission guidance have passed without a final text (Articles 56(9), 73(7) and 6(5)), and three fall in 2027 (Articles 96(1)(g), 2(13) and 72(3)).

The three past dates were missed, not postponed: Article 113, third paragraph, point (c), defers Chapter III Sections 1 to 3 except Article 6(5), so the Article 6(5) date was not moved. The Article 56(9) fallback was not triggered because the Commission found the General-Purpose AI Code of Practice adequate.

The upcoming Commission deadlines fall between 1 August 2027 and 2 September 2027, and Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 set or reworded all three of them. The EU AI Act timeline places these guidance dates among the application dates that bind operators. None of the three is an application date for operators.

Announced Guidance without a Date

The Commission overview, last updated on 31 July 2026, lists seven guidance items as forthcoming without any date:

• High-risk provider and deployer obligations under Article 96(1)(a).
• A FRIA template for the fundamental rights impact assessment under Article 27(5).
• Value chain guidelines.
• Substantial modification guidelines under Article 96(1)(c).
• A voluntary post-market monitoring template.
• A simplified quality management system for SMEs and SMCs.
• Interplay with other EU law, including joint Commission and EDPB guidelines (Article 96(1)(e)).

Two Article 4 items are also pending: the Commission's practical examples under Article 4(2) are not published and the AI Board recommendations under Article 4(3) are not adopted, according to the AI literacy Q&A last updated on 20 October 2026.

The joint Commission and EDPB guidelines are listed as planned and are not published as of 24 October 2026. The AI Act vs GDPR comparison explains where the two regulations overlap while that joint text is pending. Article 4a, inserted by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744, governs the processing of special categories of personal data for bias detection and correction, one of the points where the two regulations meet.

Guidelines and Implementing Acts after the 2026 Amendment

Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 changed five provisions on Commission guidance: Article 72(3) now requires guidance instead of an implementing act, Articles 50(7) and 56(6) dropped implementing-act approval of codes, Article 96 gained point (g), and Article 97 added two empowerments.

The codes changed most in procedure: neither needs an implementing act, and the Commission publishes its adequacy assessment instead.

Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 is the only act amending the AI Act. The Digital Omnibus on AI changed far more than guidance, including the application dates of the high-risk rules. The separate Digital Omnibus proposal COM(2025) 837 is pending and does not amend the AI Act.

Official Sources: The Commission Overview, the Service Desk and EUR-Lex

Four official sources carry the register: the Commission overview of 4 December 2025, the AI Act Service Desk launched on 8 October 2025, the EUR-Lex consolidated text of 27 July 2026 and the Publications Office Cellar.

• Commission overview "Supporting the implementation of the AI Act with clear guidelines": published 4 December 2025, last updated on 31 July 2026.
• AI Act Service Desk: the Compliance Checker, the AI Act Explorer, a question form, the FAQ, national resources and a High-risk AI Systems Guidelines section with a Guidelines Explorer.
• EUR-Lex consolidated text 02024R1689-20260727: a documentation tool without legal effect.
• Publications Office Cellar: records Implementing Regulations (EU) 2025/454 and 2026/1755 as "based on" Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 as of 24 October 2026; Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/2274, adopted under Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012, is not among them.

Document dates in this register come from the Commission's digital-strategy library, and Cellar records serve as the reference for adopted acts. New guidelines and implementing acts are covered in EU AI Act news when the Commission publishes them.

How to Use the Guidelines in a Compliance Programme

A compliance programme maps each applicable AI Act provision to its guideline, records the version date and treats drafts as working material, not as the Commission's final reading. A guideline never replaces the article it explains, so each control in the programme cites the provision first and the guideline second.

A draft, such as the Article 73(7) serious-incident guidance, can inform a reporting process, but each step needs checking again against the final text. The guide to EU AI Act compliance sets out a step-by-step programme for providers and deployers that builds on these documents. Providers of general-purpose AI models can rely on the General-Purpose AI Code of Practice to demonstrate compliance under Articles 53(4) and 55(2) until a harmonised standard is published, without a presumption of conformity.

EU AI Act Guidelines: Related Questions

The status of the Article 6(5) guidelines, the difference between codes and guidelines, the place of national guidance and the authentic text of the regulation complete the register.

Are the Article 6(5) Guidelines Final?

No: the Article 6(5) guidelines are a draft of 19 May 2026, and the 2 February 2026 deadline was missed.

The Commission guidelines on the classification of high-risk AI systems remain a draft on 24 October 2026, after a consultation that closed on 23 July 2026. The Commission announced on 19 May 2026 that the final guidelines will be adopted by the end of 2026.

Is a Code of Practice the Same as a Guideline?

No: a code of practice is a voluntary instrument whose adequacy the Commission assesses under Article 56(6), while a guideline is a non-binding Commission Communication under Article 96.

The code for general-purpose AI models has three chapters: Transparency, Copyright, and Safety and Security. Neither the General-Purpose AI Code of Practice nor the Code of Practice on Transparency of AI-Generated Content creates a presumption of conformity.

Does National Guidance Replace the Commission Guidelines?

No: Commission guidelines under Article 96 address the application of the regulation across the Union, and the regulation itself is binding in its entirety and directly applicable in every Member State.

Article 70 provides that Member States shall designate a notifying authority, a market surveillance authority and a single point of contact, with a deadline of 2 August 2025, and these national competent authorities supervise application at national level. Their publications are national documents and do not form part of the Commission register.

Where Is the Official Text of the Regulation?

The authentic text is the two Official Journal publications: OJ L, 2024/1689, 12.7.2024 and OJ L, 2026/1744, 24.7.2026.

The EU AI Act full text is also available as the consolidated version of 27 July 2026, which carries no legal effect. The current text has 119 numbered articles, 14 annexes and 180 recitals.

Frequently Asked Questions about EU AI Act Guidelines

Are AI Act guidelines binding?

No. Commission guidelines and Q&As are non-binding Communications that explain how the Commission reads the regulation. The regulation, its implementing acts and its delegated acts are binding law.

How many implementing acts has the Commission adopted under the AI Act?

Three: Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/454 on the scientific panel, Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1755 on Commission proceedings and Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/2274 on EN 18286:2026.

Has the Commission adopted any delegated act under the AI Act?

No delegated act based on the AI Act is recorded in the Publications Office Cellar as of 24 October 2026. Delegated acts under Article 2(13) are due by 2 August 2027.

What is the difference between a delegated act and an implementing act?

A delegated act under Article 97 enters into force only if the European Parliament and the Council raise no objection within three months, extendable by three. Implementing acts under Articles 41 and 50(7) follow the examination procedure of Article 98(2).

Has the AI Act been implemented?

The AI Act has been in force since 1 August 2024 and applies in stages: the general date of application is 2 August 2026, and Chapter III Sections 1 to 3 apply from 2 December 2027 for Annex III systems and 2 August 2028 for Annex I systems.

Is the AI Act legally binding?

Yes: the AI Act is a regulation, binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. National laws implement or supplement it; they do not transpose it.