All guides

EU AI Act fines for SMEs: the real numbers

Forget the €35M headlines. Here's what AI Act non-compliance can actually cost a small business under the SME cap.

Published by Kritia · legal snapshot reviewed 1 September 2026

The fine tiers

Prohibited AI practices (Article 5): up to €35M or 7% of worldwide turnover. Most operator obligations, including Article 4 literacy and Article 50 transparency: up to €15M or 3%. Supplying wrong information to authorities: up to €7.5M or 1%.

The SME cap reverses the math

For large companies the ceiling is the HIGHER of the fixed amount or percentage. For SMEs and startups, Article 99(6) caps fines at the LOWER of the two.

Concretely: an SME with €2M worldwide turnover faces a maximum of roughly €60,000 for an Article 50 breach (3% of €2M), not €15M. At €500K turnover the ceiling is €15,000. Authorities must also weigh proportionality: nature, gravity, duration, and company size.

Why compliance still matters at these numbers

Three reasons: fines stack per infringement; an enforcement action is public and toxic to B2B trust; and increasingly, large customers demand AI Act compliance evidence in procurement, and the commercial cost of failing a vendor audit dwarfs most fines.

Primary sources

The legal snapshot for this guide was checked against the documents below on 1 September 2026. Links go to the institution that published each source, not to a summary of it.

  1. Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 — Artificial Intelligence ActOfficial Journal of the European Union
  2. Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 — Digital Omnibus on AIOfficial Journal of the European Union

When this guide goes out of date, you’ll hear it here

This page was last reviewed on 1 September 2026. The wording behind it has already moved once this year. Kritia Law Watch is a free daily email for firms that use AI tools rather than build them: one thing that matters, published decisions kept separate from proposals, every claim linked to the authority that published it. A minute to read.

Enter your email; no account or card is needed. Double opt-in, one-click unsubscribe, never shared. Every issue is published in the open — read today’s first.

Compliance information, not legal advice. Basis: Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 as amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744, directly applicable in all EU member states; national implementing laws vary by country. Last reviewed 1 September 2026.