Free handbook · EU AI Act

The rules are live.
Are your images?

Article 50 has applied since 2 August 2026. This is the plain-language handbook: which of your images need a label, the exact words to put on them, and the questions to send your photo studio. No legal training needed.

In force since 2 August 2026
24 pages, written for fashion teams, not for lawyers
Seventeen real jobs with a plain yes or no on each
The wording to publish, and where to put it
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Where things stand

The AI Act was delayed. Your labelling duty was not.

The Digital Omnibus pushed back the high-risk deadlines in 2026, and a lot of teams read that as breathing room. It left Article 50 untouched.

Applies now
2 August 2026
in force
Transparency duties apply and are enforceable. This includes the visible disclosure you owe shoppers when imagery is AI-generated or AI-manipulated.
Deferred
2 December 2027
high-risk only
The Annex III high-risk obligations that the Omnibus postponed. Not the part that governs your images.
What is inside

Written for the person who has to decide, not for a lawyer

The regulation does not tell you whether an AI background needs a label. This does, for seventeen workflows, with the wording to publish and where to put it.

01
Three rules, one page
The whole thing boiled down to three sentences you can hand to anyone who signs off a product page.
02
Seventeen real jobs, answered
Ghost mannequin, background swap, AI model, face change, virtual try-on. Each one gets a plain yes or no, with the reason.
03
The question that settles arguments
One sentence you can apply to any image on your site, without opening a legal text.
04
The exact wording to publish
Copy-ready lines for each case. Take them as they are and stop debating phrasing.
05
Where the label goes
Product page, gallery, zoom, ads, email, marketplaces. What breaks on each, and the fix that always survives.
06
The line you must never cross
The one change no label can rescue, why it is a different law, and how it shows up in your return rate.
07
Ten questions for your photo studio
Send it as an email. The answers tell you more about a supplier than any capability deck.
08
A plan, and a way to score yourself
Sixteen weeks in three phases, what to do if you only have four, and sixteen checks to see where you stand.
The most useful parts

Answers you can act on today

Inside the handbook: worked examples with a verdict on each, the table of seventeen jobs, and the copy-ready wording
Worked examples, with the verdict
Real product photos, each with a plain answer: label it, or you are fine. You will recognise your own workflow on the page.
Five levels your whole team can use
Give every image a level from L0 to L4. It turns an argument about the law into a dropdown in your system.
The wording, ready to copy
Short lines in the shopper’s language. Take them as they are, put them under the image, and move on.
The rule above all the others
AI can change the picture. It must never change the product. Disclosure handles the first. Nothing rescues the second.
Who it is for

Written for the teams that own the images

If your brand sells fashion in the EU and any part of your imagery is touched by AI, this is for you. It is general information, not legal advice, and it says so wherever we are giving our reading rather than quoting the law.

Head of E-commerceHead of ContentHead of DigitalBrand & CreativeFashion e-commerceSport & lifestyle
Cover of the handbook: when do you have to write AI on a product photo

You cannot label what you cannot trace.

Get the handbook and know, workflow by workflow, what your catalogue owes and what to publish on it.

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