EU Approves World’s First AI Regulation Law Fines For Collecting Biometric Information

The European Union (EU) Parliament passed the world’s first ‘Artificial Intelligence AI Regulation Law Act’. The key points include limiting AI’s collection of biometric information and strengthening transparency obligations. Companies that violate this must pay a fine of up to 7% of total sales.

According to Euronews, the European Parliament held a plenary session on the 13th and voted on the so-called ‘ AI Regulation Act’, passing it with the overwhelming support of 523 votes in favor, 46 against, and 49 abstentions. This law will take effect in May, and some provisions are expected to be implemented starting this year, and full-scale regulations are expected to be implemented starting in 2026.

Regulations related to general-purpose AI will take effect one year later, in May 2025, and obligations for high-risk systems will apply three years later. Member countries plan to establish supervisory agencies, according to their circumstances.

The AI ​​Regulation Act regulates technologies by classifying them into four levels according to risk. A technology that collects sensitive biometric information in real-time to build a facial recognition database was classified at the highest level and effectively banned. Exceptions were made for the military, criminal investigation, and security purposes.

‘High-risk AI’ and ‘general-purpose AI’, which are subject to regulation, are clearly defined and must be reported. Transparency obligations were also imposed on large-scale language models (LLM) such as Open AI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, including compliance with EU copyright law and disclosure of content used for learning.

The obligation to indicate that the content was created by AI was also introduced. Companies that violate the regulations will be fined up to 35 million euros (about 50 billion won), or 7% of total sales. As the EU, which has taken the lead in regulating AI and big tech, passes the law, it is expected to have an impact on the introduction of regulations in other countries.

“We now have the world’s first regulations that provide a clear path for the development of safe, human-centered AI,” Italian lawmaker Brando Benifey, a co-sponsor of the bill, said at a press conference. On this day, the European Parliament also approved the ‘Media Freedom Act’, which protects the media from political power.

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