EU standards bodies flag delays to work on AI Act

Development of technical standards to be used by companies seeking to demonstrate compliance with the EU’s AI Act is behind schedule, CEN-CENELEC, the main standardisation bodies working on the European Commission request have told Euronews.

In 2023 the Commission asked the organisations to work on standards in support of the AI Act, which allow manufacturers to demonstrate that their products, services or processes comply with the rules and that they are safe, trustworthy and compliant. 

The standards were scheduled to be ready by August 2025, but “based on the current project plans, the work will extend into 2026,” said CEN-CENELEC, which consists of 34 national standardisation bodies of European countries.

This will “reflect the state of the art and ensure consensus from the European stakeholders”, they added.

Once the first drafts are ready this year, they will face mandatory rounds of editing, an assessment by the Commission, as well as consultations and votes.

This is “likely to take up much of 2025 and partly 2026 for some deliverables”, the standardisation organisations said, adding that they are taking “extraordinary measures to streamline development timelines, also in close discussion with AI Office”.

The AI Act, which aims to regulate high-risk applications, became applicable in August of last year, and is gradually being implemented. The act will be fully in force in 2027.

By August this year member states should have set up national regulators to oversee companies’ compliance on a domestic level, they will work together with the Commission’s AI Office, a unit within DG Connect.

In an interview with Euronews last December, a senior official from the Dutch data protection authority – which will oversee a part of the AI Act in the Netherlands – warned about the process.

“The standards are a way to create certainty for companies, and for them to demonstrate compliance. There is still a lot of work to be done before those standards are ready. And of course, time is starting to run out,” said Sven Stevenson.