Compliance & Legal8 min read
The EU AI Act’s Hiring Rules Just Slipped to 2027 — What Changed, and What Didn’t
The EU AI Act’s high-risk obligations for AI hiring tools were pushed from August 2026 to December 2027 by the Digital Omnibus (Council green light 29 June 2026). A neutral explainer of what the delay changes — and why the rules, and the fines, are unchanged.
Published July 2026 · RSW Editorial
Frequently Asked Questions
Did the EU delay the AI Act rules for hiring?
Yes — the application date for high-risk AI obligations, which cover AI used in recruitment and employment, moved from 2 August 2026 to 2 December 2027 under the "Digital Omnibus on AI." The European Parliament endorsed the change on 16 June 2026 and the Council of the EU gave final approval on 29 June 2026. The obligations themselves were not repealed; only the deadline moved.
Is AI used in recruitment high-risk under the EU AI Act?
Yes. The Act classifies AI used for recruitment, candidate selection, performance evaluation, task allocation, worker monitoring, and promotion or termination decisions as high-risk (Annex III). High-risk does not mean banned — it means the system must meet obligations such as bias mitigation, human oversight, transparency and candidate disclosure, and registration in the EU database.
What are the penalties under the EU AI Act?
Non-compliance with high-risk operator obligations can draw administrative fines of up to EUR 15 million or 3% of total worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher (Article 99). Using an outright-prohibited AI practice carries a higher tier of up to EUR 35 million or 7%. The 2026 delay deferred the compliance timeline, not the penalty amounts.
What did the Digital Omnibus not change?
The substance of the high-risk regime. Bias mitigation, human oversight, transparency, and registration all remain; only the date they apply moved to December 2027. The Act’s outright prohibitions have been in force since 2 February 2025 and are unaffected, and the fine structure is unchanged. The EU rescheduled the hiring rules, it did not reverse them.
Does the EU AI Act apply to companies outside the EU?
It can. The obligations attach to AI systems used in the EU and to employment decisions affecting people in the EU, so a non-EU employer using an AI hiring tool on candidates or workers located in a member state can be in scope. As with other EU employment rules, what matters is where the affected people are, not only where the company is based.
What should employers do during the delay?
Use the time, do not bank it. Inventory every AI tool that screens, ranks, scores, or monitors candidates and workers; press vendors on bias testing and documentation now; design genuine human oversight into automated decisions; prepare candidate-disclosure notices; and track the final text in the Official Journal. Retrofitting these into a live system later is far harder than building them in now.