Penalties (Chapter XII)

Abstract

The AI Act, like other European regulations and directives, contains a detailed, though not unfinished, regulation of the sanctioning regime arising from the application of the AI Act in Articles 99, 100 and 101. The exercise of the sanctioning power is mainly up to the Member States, which must also adopt their corresponding laws as an implementing measure of the AI Act in order to specify those issues left open in the Regulation. Article 99(1) already provides that ‘Member States shall lay down rules on penalties and other enforcement measures...’ and that they shall do so ‘in accordance with the terms and conditions laid down in this Regulation’, with the aim of ensuring ‘effective, proportionate and dissuasive’ penalties (Art. 99(1)). This regulatory technique bears notable similarities to that of the GDPR, whose sanctioning regime is very similar to that of the AI Act. Firstly, and as a consequence of the above, the analysis in this commentary of the sanctioning regime of the AI Act is necessarily incomplete, moreover, for a complete study of it, it would be necessary to know the content of the laws passed by the different Member States. Nevertheless, some criteria are offered for the appropriate configuration of administrative sanctions in this area, bearing in mind that the Member States have practically no margin of appreciation (or very little) for determining infringing conduct, the amounts of fines or the criteria for their graduation.