The European Commission has published its final Code of Practice on the marking and labelling of AI-generated content. The Code is voluntary and sets out practical steps to help providers and deployers of generative AI systems comply with the transparency obligations in the AI Act that will apply from 2 August 2026.
Deepfakes, and AI-generated or AI-manipulated text published on matters of public interest, must be clearly labelled. Users must also be informed when they are interacting with an AI system, such as a chatbot. These transparency requirements are intended to help people identify when content has been generated or altered by AI, with the aim of reducing the risk of deception and manipulation.
The Code consists of two sections:
Providers
This section focuses on the obligations of providers of generative AI systems. It provides guidance on how to ensure that AI-generated or AI-manipulated audio, images, video and text are marked in a machine-readable way so they can be detected as artificially generated or manipulated.
Deployers
This section addresses the obligations of deployers of generative AI systems. It explains how they must clearly label deepfakes and AI-generated or AI-manipulated text published to inform the public about matters of public interest where there has been no human review or editorial control.
These transparency rules complement the AI Act regime for general-purpose AI models and high-risk systems, and aim to support the responsible development and use of AI in the EU.
The Code promotes a consistent, practical and proportionate implementation of the AI Act’s transparency obligations. It does not replace the AI Act or the Commission’s guidelines on Article 50 AI Act. However, it provides an EU-wide recognised practical framework for signatories to demonstrate compliance with those obligations.
The Code will be complemented by Commission guidelines, which will clarify the scope of the legal obligations and address aspects not covered by the Code. The guidelines are intended to be practical and to support AI providers and deployers in meeting the transparency requirements.
