Almost everything in contact centre regulation is national. This is not. Article 50 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 applies from 2 August 2026 in every Member State, in the same terms, with a grace period to 2 December 2026 for systems already on the market. The European Commission issued guidelines on 20 July 2026.
The obligation itself is short: a natural person interacting directly with an AI system must be informed of that fact, unless it is obvious to a reasonably well-informed, observant and circumspect person. What makes it demanding is not the rule but its reach — every voicebot, chatbot, virtual assistant and synthetic voice in the operation, inbound and outbound alike.
What the duty requires
Disclosure of artificial nature
The person must be informed that they are interacting with an AI system, clearly and distinguishably, at the latest at the first interaction.
At every point of human interaction
The Commission guidelines of 20 July 2026 clarify that disclosure is required at each point of interaction, not only when the conversation opens.
Marking of synthetic content
Content generated or manipulated by AI must be marked in a machine-readable format. Systems placed on the market before 2 August 2026 have a grace period to 2 December 2026.
Emotion recognition prohibited at work
Inferring emotions of a natural person in the workplace is prohibited outright, since 2 February 2025, with no transition, save for medical or safety reasons. This reaches sentiment analysis applied to agent performance evaluation.
The duty in article 50(1) falls on the provider of the AI system; paragraphs 2 to 4 place obligations on deployers, principally the marking of generated content and of deepfakes.
For a contact centre this matters practically. An operation that buys a voicebot should verify what its vendor has done rather than assume the whole obligation is its own — and equally should not assume that the vendor has covered it. The correct question to the vendor is documentary, and it should be asked in writing.
What this site addresses
Each has a concrete answer on the solutions page.
Automation that does not disclose
The obligation became enforceable on 2 August 2026 and the authoritative guidance is only weeks older. Very few operations have embedded disclosure at every point of interaction rather than only at the opening.
View solutionSentiment analysis applied to agents
The feature is enabled in the platform, used in performance evaluation, and has been prohibited since February 2025 without any transition period.
View solutionAutomation introduced by the outsourcing provider
The provider improved its indicators by introducing automated handling, and the contracting entity acquired a transparency duty it does not know it has, discharged by a system it has never seen.
View solutionServices
Bounded products, with defined scope, method and deliverables.
AI Act Article 50 Conformity
Transparency of automated customer service systems under the Artificial Intelligence Act
SpecificationOutsourcing Governance for Customer Service
Contractual chain, propagation of obligations and verification of the provider
SpecificationCompliance File for Customer Service
Building the documentary file that can be produced to contracting authorities, client auditors and regulators
SpecificationWhere to go next
Framework
The subject matter, the applicable regime and what has changed in recent years.
ReadMarket
Who is covered, by category of undertaking, and with what priority.
ViewTraining
Training paths on the applicable regulatory framework.
View programmesFAQ
The questions that always come up, answered with a source.
ConsultDiscuss your case
A concrete question gets a concrete answer. Enquiries are routed directly and answered within three working days.