Your mandated EU point of contact under Article 22 of the AI Act
Prohibited AI practices (Article 5)
Some AI practices may not be placed on the EU market, put into service or used at all. Most prohibitions have applied since 2 February 2025; the Digital Omnibus added two more that apply from 2 December 2026.
Article 5 AI Act
Applies since 2 February 2025
New bans from 2 December 2026
Fines up to EUR 35 million or 7%
Prohibited since 2 February 2025
- Subliminal, manipulative or deceptive techniques that materially distort behaviour and cause significant harm
- Exploiting vulnerabilities due to age, disability or social or economic situation
- Social scoring leading to detrimental or unfavourable treatment
- Predicting the risk of a person committing a crime based solely on profiling or personality traits
- Untargeted scraping of facial images from the internet or CCTV to build facial recognition databases
- Emotion recognition in the workplace and in education, except for medical or safety reasons
- Biometric categorisation to infer race, political opinions, trade union membership, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life or sexual orientation
- Real-time remote biometric identification in publicly accessible spaces for law enforcement, except in narrowly defined cases
Added by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 - from 2 December 2026
- AI systems that generate or manipulate realistic non-consensual intimate imagery of identifiable people, including so-called nudifier applications
- AI systems that generate child sexual abuse material
These cover systems designed for those purposes and systems where such outputs are reasonably foreseeable and reproducible without reasonable, proportionate and effective safeguards.
Why it matters for general-purpose products
The added bans reach general image and video generators whose safeguards are not effective. Providers should document their safeguards and test them against foreseeable misuse.
Frequently asked questions
When did the AI Act prohibitions start to apply?
On 2 February 2025. The prohibitions on non-consensual intimate imagery and child sexual abuse material added by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 apply from 2 December 2026.
Is emotion recognition banned?
In the workplace and in education institutions, except where intended for medical or safety reasons. Elsewhere it is subject to transparency obligations and may be high-risk.
What is the fine for a prohibited practice?
Up to EUR 35 million or 7% of total worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher.
Related
The fine levels.
Rules for allowed systems.
All key dates.
Note: This guide provides general information about Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act) as amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 (Digital Omnibus on AI), not legal advice. Last reviewed 5 October 2026.
