Commission opens consultation on draft guidelines for AI transparency obligations

Tag: S-2026-05-08-eu-ai-office-article-50-transparency Type: article (Commission press release) Author(s): European Commission (DG CONNECT) Date of source: 2026-05-08 Date ingested: 2026-05-29 Authority weight: high — European Commission primary publication Raw file: S-2026-05-08-eu-ai-office-article-50-transparency

What it claims

The European Commission has opened a targeted stakeholder consultation on draft guidelines for the AI transparency obligations under Article 50 of the EU AI Act. The consultation is open until 3 June 2026, and the Article 50 obligations become applicable on 2 August 2026.

The draft guidelines clarify what providers and deployers of AI systems must do to comply: providers must inform users when they are interacting with an AI system and must add machine-readable marks to enable detection of AI-generated or manipulated content; deployers must inform people when they are exposed to deep fakes, AI-generated publications on matters of public interest, and emotion-recognition or biometric-categorisation systems. The guidelines take into account input from previous consultations and aim to clarify the scope of these obligations and help providers and deployers comply consistently.

A voluntary Code of Practice on marking and labelling of AI-generated content, drafted by independent experts, is expected to be finalised in June 2026 and will complement the guidelines as a tool to help demonstrate compliance. Stakeholders invited to respond include providers and developers of AI systems, businesses, public authorities, academia, research institutions and citizens.

Notable quotes

“From 2 August 2026, people in the European Union will have to be informed when they are interacting with artificial intelligence (AI) systems or exposed to certain AI-generated or manipulated content.” — EU Commission press release, 8 May 2026.

“AI providers will have to inform people when they are interacting with an AI system and add machine-readable marks to enable the detection of AI-generated or manipulated content. Deployers will also have to inform people when they are exposed to deep fakes, AI-generated publications on matters of public interests, and emotion recognition or biometric categorisation systems.” — EU Commission press release.

“The draft guidelines take into account input from previous consultations and aim to clarify the scope of these obligations and help providers and deployers comply with them. A code of practice drafted by independent experts will complement the guidelines. The final code, expected in June 2026, will be a voluntary tool to help demonstrate compliance.”

What’s speculative vs. asserted

• Asserted: the consultation is open until 3 June 2026; Article 50 applies from 2 August 2026; providers and deployers carry the substantive transparency obligations described; voluntary Code of Practice expected June 2026.
• Speculative / contingent: final guidelines may change scope based on consultation feedback; how Article 50 obligations interact with existing EU consumer-protection and conduct rules will become clearer once final guidelines and the Code of Practice are published.

Topics this feeds

• EU AI Act — Article 50 transparency obligations and 2 August 2026 application track.
• GPAI Code of Practice — voluntary Code of Practice on marking and labelling of AI-generated content is a sibling instrument.
• Operational Resilience and Third Party Risk — deployer obligations require evidence of upstream-provider labelling and provenance.
• AI Tools Inventory — labelling, disclosure and provenance evidence becomes a deployer-side control over the AI tools inventory.

Open questions raised

• What will the final consolidated Article 50 guidelines look like once consultation feedback is incorporated?
• How will the voluntary Code of Practice on AI-generated content marking interact with industry-side technical standards (C2PA, watermarking)?
• Which financial-services workflows are most exposed to deployer disclosure obligations (e.g. chatbots, document generation, agentic customer journeys)?
• Will the Commission issue separate sectoral guidance for financial services or rely on competent authorities to translate Article 50 into supervisory expectations?