EU AI Act Delay Doesn't Touch Three Obligations Still Hitting Employers on 2 August
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The News
The EU's Digital Omnibus simplification package, given final approval by the Council on 29 June 2026, deferred the high-risk AI compliance deadline for Annex III systems — including employment-related AI — from 2 August 2026 to 2 December 2027. But DLA Piper's analysis confirms that several obligations remain on their original timelines. The ban on emotion-recognition AI in the workplace (Article 5) has been in force since February 2025. The AI literacy obligation (Article 4) requires employers to ensure staff using AI systems receive documented training — also in force since February 2025. Most transparency duties under Article 50 take effect on 2 August 2026 as planned, including the duty to inform candidates they are interacting with an AI system, such as a recruitment chatbot, and the duty to disclose when biometric categorisation AI is used.
Why It Matters
The delay has created a dangerous complacency trap. Many TA teams have heard 'AI Act delayed' and deprioritised all preparation. But if you're running a recruitment chatbot that interacts with candidates without disclosure, or a video interview tool that analyses facial expressions or tone of voice, you're already non-compliant — and have been since February 2025 for the emotion-recognition ban. The transparency duty arriving on 2 August means every candidate interacting with an AI system in your hiring process must be told. That's not a 2027 problem; it's a next-week problem.
Taking Action
All action is situated in your corporate context. These are starting points, not prescriptions — choose what fits.
Connect
Who to talk with in your enterprise
Your HRIS lead and recruitment technology owner: audit every AI-touching tool in your hiring stack now. Specifically identify whether any video interview, assessment, or chatbot tool infers emotions from facial expressions or voice — that's a flat ban, not a risk to manage. Your legal counsel or DPO: confirm whether your candidate-facing AI tools include transparency notices. If candidates aren't told they're interacting with AI before 2 August, that's a gap to close in days, not months.
Inspect
What to take a closer look at
Request from each vendor a written statement of whether their tool performs emotion recognition, biometric categorisation, or automated decision-making. Map which tools require Article 50 transparency notices and verify those notices are live in your candidate journey today — not queued for a future release.
Reflect
What to think about more deeply
If your AI Act preparation stopped when you heard 'delayed,' what exactly did you stop — and which of those stopped items were never actually delayed at all?