The European Commission published the Code of Practice on Marking and Labelling of AI-Generated Content on 10 June 2026. The Commission issued the Code under Article 50(2) and (4) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, the EU AI Act. The Code is voluntary. Adherence establishes a presumption of compliance with Article 50 transparency obligations from 2 August 2026, the date on which those obligations enter application.
Article 50(2) requires providers of general-purpose AI systems generating audio, image, video, or text outputs to mark those outputs in machine-readable format as artificially generated or manipulated. Article 50(4) requires deployers who publish deepfakes or AI-generated text on matters of public interest to label that content visibly. The Code aligns technical marking requirements with the C2PA (Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity) specification, setting interoperability standards for marking and detection.
Providers of generative AI systems, including large language model operators and image and video synthesis platforms, must embed machine-readable marks in AI outputs before 2 August 2026. Professional deployers, including news publishers, political campaign operators, and advertising agencies using generative AI to produce public-interest content, must display visible labels identifying AI origin. Market surveillance authorities in each EU member state will assess compliance against the Code from 2 August 2026.
Adherence to the Code is voluntary. Providers and deployers may satisfy Article 50 obligations through technically equivalent means, provided those means achieve the Code's marking and detection outcomes. The AI Omnibus amendment extends the grace period for implementing marking solutions on AI-generated content already in circulation to 2 December 2026. Initial signatories must submit completed forms by 22 July 2026 to appear in the Commission's published list of adherents before the compliance date.
Licentium advises providers and deployers of generative AI systems on EU AI Act Article 50 compliance and Code of Practice adoption. Contact us to discuss your compliance position. Work we undertake includes AI Act readiness assessments, C2PA marking implementation reviews, labelling programme design for publishing and media clients, regulatory preparedness analysis, and multi-jurisdictional AI transparency obligation mapping.
Source: European Commission, Code of Practice on Marking and Labelling of AI-Generated Content, 10 June 2026