Skip to content

Regulation Tracker / European Union

Commission Guidelines on prohibited artificial intelligence practices (Article 5 AI Act)

European Commission

last revised 2025-02-04last verified 2026-09-031 versioncountry page →

GuidanceIn forceProhibition

map categories:Horizontal AI statute

Interpretive guidelines from the European Commission, published 4 February 2025, explaining the prohibited AI practices in Article 5 of the EU AI Act, which applied from 2 February 2025. The guidelines are non-binding but set out how the Commission reads the bans on manipulative techniques, social scoring, untargeted facial scraping and emotion recognition in workplaces.

Applies to
providers, all
Effective
04 Feb 2025
Current version
Original · 04 Feb 2025
Last verified
03 Sept 2026
Official text
digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/commission-publishes-guidelin…

What the document requires

  • Explains each Article 5 prohibition with examples and scope boundaries.
  • Non-binding; authoritative interpretation ultimately rests with the Court of Justice.
  • Applies to providers and deployers of AI systems placed on the EU market.

Version history

VersionDateWhat changedSource
Originalcurrent2025-02-04First version recorded.official

Read our analysis: The EU AI Act so far: every milestone from adoption to mid-2026 →

Sources

Cite this record

SafeLegalAI Legal AI Regulation Tracker, "Commission Guidelines on prohibited artificial intelligence practices (Article 5 AI Act)" (European Commission, Original, 2025-02-04), safelegalai.com/regulation/eu/eu-commission-guidelines-prohibited-ai-practices (accessed 2026-09-04). Data: CC BY 4.0.

More official documents in European Union