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Companion videos

EU AI Act for SMEs: a practical governance plan — companion videos

The article turns EU AI Act readiness into an operating model: inventory, risk classification, ownership, vendor evidence, human oversight, transparency and records. This companion adds a negotiator's view of the Act's intent and the phased timeline presented when the talk was recorded. That timeline has since changed and must not be treated as current legal guidance.

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29:32
EU AI Act Explained: Turning Compliance into Competitive Advantage | Carme Artigas

MSP GLOBAL

Carme Artigas chaired the Council negotiations that produced the AI Act, and here she explains it to managed service providers through which many SMEs buy AI systems. She walks the timeline understood at the time, from the August 2025 GPAI code of practice to an August 2026 conformity-assessment milestone, and discusses vendor documentation. The [AI Omnibus, Regulation (EU) 2026/1744](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ%3AL_202601744), later moved the relevant Chapter III high-risk requirements to 2 December 2027 for Annex III systems and 2 August 2028 for systems covered by Annex I. The inventory, vendor-evidence and ownership work remains useful, but the video's dates are historical.

What you should get from this: Compare the video's historical timeline with current EU law, then map the current deadlines to the vendor-evidence and ownership tasks an SME must schedule.

Watch or know first: Basic awareness of which AI systems your business runs or buys and of the Act's risk-based approach.

AI Expert note: A negotiator's keynote provides context, not legal advice. The current dates above come from the amending regulation; verify the classification and obligations for your system against current EU law and relevant Estonian guidance before changing policy.

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