{"answer_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:answer:artikel-56-ai-act","canonical_page":"https://www.praxikon.com/en/antwoord/artikel-56-ai-act","query":"What does Article 56 of the AI Act say about codes of practice for general-purpose AI models?","lang":"en","view":"full","mode":"obligation","question":"What does Article 56 of the AI Act say about codes of practice for general-purpose AI models?","situation":"Article 56 of the AI Act covers codes of practice for general-purpose AI models. The AI Office encourages and facilitates the drawing up of codes of practice at Union level, and the AI Office and the Board see to it that those codes cover at least the obligations in Articles 53 and 55. Providers of general-purpose AI models and national competent authorities may be invited to participate in the drawing up; civil society organisations, industry, academia and other stakeholders may support the process. Until 27 July 2026 the Commission could approve a code of practice by implementing act and give it general validity within the Union; Article 1, point (21), of Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 replaced paragraph 6 and removed that power. Since then the Commission assesses whether the codes cover the obligations of Articles 53 and 55 and publishes that assessment. The codes were to be ready by 2 May 2025 at the latest; if no code existed by 2 August 2025, or if the AI Office deems one inadequate, the Commission may lay down common rules by implementing acts for the implementation of Articles 53 and 55. For you this is therefore not a separate duty but a route: a code is a voluntary instrument with which you can demonstrate compliance. This provision concerns the provider of a GPAI model and the provider of an AI system. This provision applies today.","likely_role":null,"note":null,"matched_terms":[],"dataset":{"id":"praxikon:sys:registry:dataset:ai-act-implementation-graph","version":"2.2.0","schema_version":"1.5.0","effective_at":"2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z","known_at":"2026-09-06T00:00:00.000Z","last_reviewed_at":"2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z","licence":"https://www.praxikon.com/nl/legal/terms","canonical_url":"https://www.praxikon.com/api/v1/entities"},"obligations":[{"slug":"article-56-gpai-codes-of-practice","label":"Article 56: codes of practice for general-purpose AI models","summary":"The AI Office encourages and facilitates the drawing up of codes of practice at Union level, and the AI Office and the Board see to it that those codes cover at least the obligations in Articles 53 and 55. Providers of general-purpose AI models and national competent authorities may be invited to participate in the drawing up; civil society organisations, industry, academia and other stakeholders may support the process. Until 27 July 2026 the Commission could approve a code of practice by implementing act and give it general validity within the Union; Article 1, point (21), of Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 replaced paragraph 6 and removed that power. Since then the Commission assesses whether the codes cover the obligations of Articles 53 and 55 and publishes that assessment. The codes were to be ready by 2 May 2025 at the latest; if no code existed by 2 August 2025, or if the AI Office deems one inadequate, the Commission may lay down common rules by implementing acts for the implementation of Articles 53 and 55. For you this is therefore not a separate duty but a route: a code is a voluntary instrument with which you can demonstrate compliance.","legal_status":"applicable","deadline_at":null,"high_risk_regime_from":null,"human_page":"https://www.praxikon.com/en/verplichtingen/article-56-gpai-codes-of-practice","api":"https://www.praxikon.com/api/v1/obligations?lang=en","official_source":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","citations":[{"kind":"official_fact","statement":"Paragraph 1 provides that the AI Office shall encourage and facilitate the drawing up of codes of practice at Union level in order to contribute to the proper application of this Regulation, taking into account international approaches. Paragraph 2 provides that the AI Office and the Board shall aim to ensure that the codes of practice cover at least the obligations provided for in Articles 53 and 55, including the following issues: (a) the means to ensure that the information referred to in Article 53(1), points (a) and (b), is kept up to date in light of market and technological developments; (b) the adequate level of detail for the summary about the content used for training; (c) the identification of the type and nature of the systemic risks at Union level, including their sources, where appropriate; (d) the measures, procedures and modalities for the assessment and management of the systemic risks at Union level, including the documentation thereof, which shall be proportionate to the risks, take into consideration their severity and probability and take into account the specific challenges of tackling those risks in light of the possible ways in which such risks may emerge and materialise along the AI value chain. Paragraph 3 provides that the AI Office may invite all providers of general-purpose AI models, as well as relevant national competent authorities, to participate in the drawing-up of codes of practice. Civil society organisations, industry, academia and other relevant stakeholders, such as downstream providers and independent experts, may support the process.","source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689","source_locator":"Article 56(1)-(9)","source_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj"},{"kind":"official_fact","statement":"Paragraph 4 provides that the AI Office and the Board shall aim to ensure that the codes of practice clearly set out their specific objectives and contain commitments or measures, including key performance indicators as appropriate, to ensure the achievement of those objectives, and that they take due account of the needs and interests of all interested parties, including affected persons, at Union level. Paragraph 5 provides that the AI Office shall aim to ensure that participants to the codes of practice report regularly to the AI Office on the implementation of the commitments and the measures taken and their outcomes, including as measured against the key performance indicators as appropriate. Key performance indicators and reporting commitments shall reflect differences in size and capacity between various participants. Paragraph 6, as replaced by Article 1, point (21), of Regulation (EU) 2026/1744, provides that the Commission and the Board shall regularly monitor and evaluate the achievement of the objectives of the codes of practice by the participants and their contribution to the proper application of this Regulation. The Commission, taking utmost account of the opinion of the Board, shall assess whether the codes of practice cover the obligations provided for in Articles 53 and 55, and shall regularly monitor and evaluate the achievement of their objectives. The Commission shall publish its assessment of the adequacy of the codes of practice. The power to approve a code of practice by implementing act and give it general validity within the Union, which sat in the second subparagraph of paragraph 6 until 27 July 2026, lapsed with that replacement. Paragraph 7 provides that the AI Office may invite all providers of general-purpose AI models to adhere to the codes of practice. For providers of general-purpose AI models not presenting systemic risks this adherence may be limited to the obligations provided for in Article 53, unless they declare explicitly their interest to join the full code.","source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2026-1744","source_locator":"Article 1, point (21), replacing Article 56(6)","source_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2026/1744/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2026/1744/oj"},{"kind":"editorial_interpretation","statement":"A code of practice is a voluntary instrument, and that word does all the work here. Signing creates no new obligation: your obligations remain those of Articles 53 and 55, and Article 56 changes nothing about them. Not signing is not an infringement either, because paragraphs 3 and 7 speak of inviting and not of requiring. What does shift is the burden of proof. A provider adhering to a code can point to a shared elaboration, assessed by the AI Office and the Board, when a regulator asks how it keeps its documentation up to date, how detailed its summary about the training content is, or how it assesses and manages systemic risk. A provider that does not sign has to write that elaboration itself and defend it itself, up to and including the question why its own approach is at least as good. That is not a legal difference in the norm, but it is a large difference in what is on the table when something is asked. Two things that are often conflated here. First: paragraph 7 allows a provider without a systemic-risk model to limit itself to the obligations in Article 53, unless it explicitly declares its interest in the full code. Partial participation is therefore an expressly foreseen choice and not half-heartedness. Second: paragraph 9 puts a stick behind the door that does not rest on you but does reach you. If no code comes about, or if the AI Office deems it inadequate, the Commission may lay down common rules by implementing acts for the implementation of Articles 53 and 55. Those rules, unlike a code, are not voluntary.","source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689","source_locator":"Article 56(1)-(9)","source_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj"},{"kind":"editorial_interpretation","statement":"Precision is in order about the state of play, because this is where the market overstates the most. It is established that the General-Purpose AI Code of Practice was published on 10 July 2025; that code is archived in this repository as three chapter PDF files, on transparency, copyright and safety and security, and it is present as a source record in this knowledge base. Whether an approving implementing act followed was not established for the period up to 27 July 2026, and after that date it is no longer the right question: paragraph 6 no longer carries that power. Since then the question is whether the Commission has published its assessment of adequacy. That too is not established here, and for as long as that is the case you must not read anywhere that the code has been approved or has general validity within the Union. That distinction is not a formality: a published code is a text you can voluntarily adhere to, a code approved by implementing act is on top of that an instrument with general validity in the Union. Anyone mistaking the first for the second overestimates what a signature buys and underestimates what they still have to record themselves. The content of the three chapters was also not read in this build, so nothing in this object says anything about what exactly is in them. In practice that means the following. Check the approval status yourself and by date before you rely on the code in a conversation with a regulator or a customer, and record which version of the code and which chapter your adherence relates to. A code may be reviewed and adapted under paragraph 8, in particular in light of emerging standards, so a reliance on the code without a version reference ages on its own.","source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:gpai-code-of-practice","source_locator":"Code of Practice for General-Purpose AI, 10 July 2025","source_url":"https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/contents-code-gpai","eli":null},{"kind":"recommended_action","statement":"Treat the question whether you adhere to a code of practice as a decision that is taken and recorded, not as something that happens by itself. Record per model: do you adhere to a code, to which version and to which chapter, and if not, which elaboration of your own you apply instead for the issues named in paragraph 2, namely keeping the information in Article 53(1), points (a) and (b), up to date, the level of detail of the summary about the training content, and, where you offer a systemic-risk model, the identification and management of systemic risk. Decide explicitly whether under paragraph 7 the obligations in Article 53 are enough for you or whether you join the full code, and note that choice with a date and an authorised signatory. Before you rely on a code externally, check whether the Commission has published its assessment of adequacy under the amended paragraph 6, and claim no more than you can point at that moment. Do not ask for an approving implementing act: that power has not existed since 27 July 2026, and asking for it is asking for a decision nobody can take any more. Finally, put a review moment in your own calendar: paragraph 8 provides for review and adaptation of codes in light of emerging standards, and paragraph 9 allows the Commission to lay down common rules where a code fails to appear or is deemed inadequate, and both change what you are relying on without anyone calling you.","source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689","source_locator":"Article 56(1)-(9)","source_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj"},{"kind":"recommended_action","statement":"Treat the question whether you adhere to a code of practice as a decision that is taken and recorded, not as something that happens by itself. Record per model: do you adhere to a code, to which version and to which chapter, and if not, which elaboration of your own you apply instead for the issues named in paragraph 2, namely keeping the information in Article 53(1), points (a) and (b), up to date, the level of detail of the summary about the training content, and, where you offer a systemic-risk model, the identification and management of systemic risk. Decide explicitly whether under paragraph 7 the obligations in Article 53 are enough for you or whether you join the full code, and note that choice with a date and an authorised signatory. Before you rely on a code externally, check whether the Commission has published its assessment of adequacy under the amended paragraph 6, and claim no more than you can point at that moment. Do not ask for an approving implementing act: that power has not existed since 27 July 2026, and asking for it is asking for a decision nobody can take any more. Finally, put a review moment in your own calendar: paragraph 8 provides for review and adaptation of codes in light of emerging standards, and paragraph 9 allows the Commission to lay down common rules where a code fails to appear or is deemed inadequate, and both change what you are relying on without anyone calling you.","source_id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:gpai-code-of-practice","source_locator":"Code of Practice for General-Purpose AI, 10 July 2025","source_url":"https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/contents-code-gpai","eli":null}]}],"conditional":[],"sources":[{"id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2024-1689","title":"EU Artificial Intelligence Act 2024/1689","publisher":"European Parliament and Council","canonical_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj","source_version":"original-oj-2024-07-12","verified_at":"2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z"},{"id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:reg-eu-2026-1744","title":"Digital Omnibus on AI 2026/1744","publisher":"European Parliament and Council","canonical_url":"https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2026/1744/oj","eli":"http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2026/1744/oj","source_version":"official-journal-2026-07-24","verified_at":"2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z"},{"id":"praxikon:eu:ai-act:source:gpai-code-of-practice","title":"General-Purpose AI Code of Practice","publisher":"European Commission / AI Office","canonical_url":"https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/contents-code-gpai","eli":null,"source_version":"published-2025-07-10","verified_at":"2026-08-08T00:00:00.000Z"}],"first_actions":[{"label":"Take and record the decision whether you adhere to a code of practice","summary":"Determine per general-purpose AI model whether you adhere to a code of practice, to which version and which chapter, whether under paragraph 7 the obligations in Article 53 suffice for you, and which elaboration of your own you apply for the issues in paragraph 2 where you do not join."}],"evidence":[{"label":"Record of the decision on a code of practice","summary":"Per model: the decision whether or not to adhere to a code of practice, the version and chapter it relates to, the date and the authorised signatory, whether adherence was limited under paragraph 7 to the obligations in Article 53, and, where the decision is negative, the elaboration of your own for the issues in paragraph 2.","url":"https://www.praxikon.com/en/ai-act/artikel/56"}],"guidance":[],"examples":[],"standards":[],"definitions":[],"answer_page":"https://www.praxikon.com/en/antwoord/artikel-56-ai-act","follow_up_questions":[],"disclaimer":"General interpretation, not legal advice. The official source remains authoritative.","methodology":"https://www.praxikon.com/en/methodologie"}