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2026-04-25·12 min read·

EU AI Act Art.98: Exercise of the Delegation — Delegated Acts, 5-Year Review Cycle, and Parliamentary Scrutiny for AI Developers (2026)

Art.97 establishes the committee that approves implementing acts. Art.98 governs a different and more consequential legislative mechanism: the delegated acts through which the Commission can amend the substantive scope of the AI Act itself — including what counts as high-risk AI and which GPAI models trigger systemic risk obligations. Art.98 is the constitutional specification for this power: how long the Commission holds it, who can take it back, what procedural safeguards apply, and how long Parliament and Council have to block a delegated act before it enters into force.

Most AI Act developer documentation treats the Act as static law. It is not. The provisions in Art.71 that authorize the Commission to amend Annex I, Annex III, and the GPAI systemic risk threshold are governed entirely by the Art.98 framework. Understanding Art.98 means understanding which parts of the AI Act can change without full legislative procedure — and how much lead time developers have before those changes bind them.

What Article 98 Actually Says

Article 98 is a five-paragraph delegation framework that mirrors the standard EU legislative template for conferring regulatory power on the Commission.

Article 98(1) — The Delegation Period:

The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Article 71 is conferred on the Commission for a period of five years from 1 August 2024. The Commission shall draw up a report in respect of the delegation of power not later than nine months before the end of the five-year period. The delegation of power shall be tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration, unless the European Parliament or the Council opposes such extension not later than three months before the end of each period.

Three critical facts embedded in this paragraph:

  1. Start date: 1 August 2024 — the AI Act's entry into force date (20 days after Official Journal publication on 12 July 2024). The 5-year clock began running then.
  2. Expiry: 1 August 2029 — unless tacitly extended. The Commission must submit its renewal report by 1 November 2028 (nine months before expiry).
  3. Tacit extension: Renewal is automatic unless EP or Council actively objects by 1 May 2029. Absent political will to block, the delegation rolls forward for another five years.

Article 98(2) — The Revocation Mechanism:

The delegation of power referred to in Article 71 may be revoked at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council. A decision to revoke shall put an end to the delegation of the power specified in that decision. It shall take effect the day following the publication of the decision in the Official Journal of the European Union or at a later date specified therein. It shall not affect the validity of any delegated acts already in force.

Four aspects matter for compliance planning:

Article 98(3) — Expert Consultation Before Adoption:

Before adopting a delegated act, the Commission shall consult experts designated by each Member State in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making.

The 2016 Interinstitutional Agreement (IIA) requires the Commission to:

This consultation is not the same as public stakeholder consultation, though the Commission typically runs both in parallel for substantively significant delegated acts. For Annex III amendments (high-risk AI category changes), the expert consultation creates an early-warning track: meeting agendas and draft working documents circulate among member state experts weeks before the Commission formally adopts the delegated act for Parliamentary scrutiny.

Article 98(4) — Simultaneous Notification:

As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council.

This notification triggers the scrutiny clock. The date of notification to both institutions simultaneously — not the date of OJ publication — starts the 3-month window under Art.98(5). In practice, notification and OJ publication occur within days of each other, but the formal scrutiny period begins from the notification date, which is precisely documented in the OJ preamble of each delegated act.

Article 98(5) — The Scrutiny Window:

A delegated act adopted pursuant to Article 71 shall enter into force only if no objection has been expressed either by the European Parliament or by the Council within a period of three months of notification of that act to the European Parliament and the Council or if, before the expiry of that period, the European Parliament and the Council have both informed the Commission that they will not object. That period shall be extended by three months at the initiative of the European Parliament or of the Council.

The scrutiny architecture:

OutcomeConditionEffect
Entry into forceNo objection from EP or Council within 3 monthsAct enters into force on first day after scrutiny period
Early entry into forceBoth EP and Council notify non-objection before 3 months expireAct enters into force immediately after both notify
Extended scrutinyEP or Council requests extensionTotal scrutiny window becomes 6 months
BlockedEP or Council expresses formal objection within scrutiny periodAct does not enter into force; Commission must re-draft or abandon

The 6-month maximum scrutiny window (3 + possible 3 extension) is a hard developer planning horizon: between the notification date and the act entering into force, developers have a minimum of 3 months and a maximum of 6 months before new substantive requirements bind them.

The Three-Layer Governance Stack: Art.71, Art.97, and Art.98

Understanding the AI Act's regulatory change machinery requires holding three articles simultaneously:

LayerArticleFunctionWho Controls
Source of powerArt.71Grants the Commission specific delegated powersCo-legislators (EP + Council, as original lawmakers)
Execution mechanism (implementing acts)Art.97Committee procedure for operational/procedural changesCommission + Member State committee
Execution framework (delegated acts)Art.98Rules governing how Commission exercises its Art.71 delegationCommission, with EP/Council scrutiny rights

Art.71 specifies what the Commission can change. Art.98 specifies how it exercises that power and what oversight applies. Art.97 covers a parallel track for implementing acts — operationally important but procedurally different and subject to no Parliamentary scrutiny at all.

The distinction matters for developers:

Both timelines are shorter than full legislative revision (which would take years).

What the Delegated Act Power Actually Covers

Art.71 — which Art.98 governs — authorizes the Commission to:

Art.71 ParagraphScopeDeveloper Impact
Art.71(1)(a)Amend Annex I (AI definition / prohibited techniques list)Changes what qualifies as prohibited AI practice
Art.71(1)(b)Amend Annex III (high-risk AI system categories)Adds or removes sectors/use cases from high-risk classification
Art.71(1)(c)Art.6(6) list — standalone AI systems not posing high riskCarves systems out of high-risk despite Annex III listing
Art.71(1)(d)Art.52(4) — extend transparency obligationsNew disclosure requirements for additional AI system types
Art.71(1)(e)Art.51(2) — modify GPAI systemic risk thresholdRaises or lowers the 10²⁵ FLOPs threshold
Art.71(1)(f)Art.53(3) — update GPAI provider obligationsNew evaluation or red-teaming requirements for systemic risk models

Every AI Act compliance gap audit must include monitoring the Art.71/Art.98 pipeline. An Annex III amendment that adds your AI system category creates new high-risk obligations with only a 3–6 month notice period.

The Delegation Timeline: Key Dates for Planning

The Art.98 framework creates a predictable set of regulatory checkpoint dates:

1 August 2024    — AI Act entry into force; Art.98 delegation period begins
                   → Commission may now adopt delegated acts under Art.71

1 November 2028  — Latest date for Commission to submit delegation review report
                   (Art.98(1): "not later than 9 months before end of 5-year period")

1 May 2029       — Last date for EP or Council to oppose delegation renewal
                   (Art.98(1): "not later than 3 months before end of period")

1 August 2029    — Art.98 delegation expires (unless tacitly extended)

Ongoing          — Each adopted delegated act: 3-month scrutiny window,
                   extendable to 6 months, from notification date

The renewal mechanism means the delegation is likely perpetual in practice. The EU legislature does not typically oppose renewal of functional regulatory delegations — the oversight mechanism is the individual act-by-act scrutiny rather than wholesale revocation of the Commission's power.

Expert Consultation as Early Warning Signal

Art.98(3) expert consultation — required before the Commission formally adopts any delegated act — is the most actionable early warning signal for developers. The IIA creates a transparency trail:

  1. Commission consultation register: Expert group meetings must be registered at ec.europa.eu/transparency/expert-groups-register/. Look for groups advising on AI Act implementation.
  2. Meeting agendas: Published before meetings; contain draft delegated act discussion items
  3. Working documents: Available through EP Committee on Internal Market (IMCO) or Council Working Party on Competitiveness and Growth
  4. EASA/ESO mandates: Standardisation mandates often signal upcoming implementing or delegated acts

For Annex III category changes specifically: DG CNECT (the lead directorate for AI Act) typically circulates preliminary impact assessments to member state expert groups 3–6 months before formal adoption. This creates a monitoring track with 6–12 months total lead time from expert consultation signal to delegated act entry into force.

Revocation Risk Assessment

Art.98(2) revocation is theoretically available to both Parliament and Council, but historical EU practice suggests specific scenarios where this is plausible:

ScenarioProbabilityDeveloper Impact
Routine tacit extension (2029)Very highNo change; delegation continues
Partial revocation (specific Art.71 paragraph)LowFreezes specific amendment pathway; existing acts remain valid
Full revocation (all Art.71 delegation)Very lowCommission loses ability to amend Annex I/III; major legislative gap
Revocation triggered by politically controversial delegated actLow-mediumLikely political signal; deferred effective date to allow transition

For compliance planning purposes, revocation scenarios warrant note but not active hedging. The primary planning variable is the 3–6 month scrutiny window for each delegated act individually.

CLOUD Act Regulatory-Stability Implications

Art.98 has a structural CLOUD Act dimension that differs from Art.97's urgency-velocity issue. The delegated act framework creates a medium-term regulatory change pipeline:

US-jurisdiction AI system scenario:

EU-native infrastructure scenario:

The delegated act mechanism is slower than Art.97(3) urgency procedures, but more structurally significant because it rewrites the regulation's scope rather than just operational procedures. Developers who maintain EU-native infrastructure have structural alignment with the high-risk obligations that are most likely to be expanded through Art.71/Art.98 delegated acts.

Python DelegatedActScrutinyTracker

The following implementation monitors the delegated act pipeline from expert consultation through Parliamentary scrutiny to entry into force.

from dataclasses import dataclass, field
from datetime import date, timedelta
from enum import Enum
from typing import Optional

class DelegatedActStatus(Enum):
    EXPERT_CONSULTATION = "expert_consultation"
    ADOPTED_BY_COMMISSION = "adopted_by_commission"
    NOTIFIED_TO_EP_COUNCIL = "notified_to_ep_council"
    SCRUTINY_EXTENDED = "scrutiny_extended"
    ENTRY_INTO_FORCE = "entry_into_force"
    BLOCKED = "blocked"
    REVOKED = "revoked"

class Art71Basis(Enum):
    ANNEX_I_AMENDMENT = "art71_1a"          # AI definition / prohibited practices
    ANNEX_III_AMENDMENT = "art71_1b"        # High-risk categories
    ART_6_6_EXCLUSION_LIST = "art71_1c"     # Standalone AI systems not high-risk
    TRANSPARENCY_EXTENSION = "art71_1d"     # Art.52(4) obligations
    GPAI_THRESHOLD = "art71_1e"             # Art.51(2) systemic risk FLOPs threshold
    GPAI_OBLIGATIONS = "art71_1f"           # Art.53(3) GPAI provider obligations

@dataclass
class DelegatedAct:
    reference: str
    title: str
    legal_basis: Art71Basis
    status: DelegatedActStatus
    expert_consultation_date: Optional[date] = None
    adoption_date: Optional[date] = None
    notification_date: Optional[date] = None
    scrutiny_extended: bool = False
    objection_raised: bool = False
    objection_institution: Optional[str] = None
    entry_into_force_date: Optional[date] = None
    transition_period_days: int = 0
    affects_high_risk: bool = False
    affects_gpai: bool = False
    affects_prohibited: bool = False
    developer_action_required: str = ""

    SCRUTINY_DAYS = 90      # 3 months standard
    EXTENSION_DAYS = 90     # additional 3 months if extended

    @property
    def scrutiny_deadline(self) -> Optional[date]:
        if not self.notification_date:
            return None
        base = self.notification_date + timedelta(days=self.SCRUTINY_DAYS)
        if self.scrutiny_extended:
            return base + timedelta(days=self.EXTENSION_DAYS)
        return base

    @property
    def max_entry_into_force(self) -> Optional[date]:
        deadline = self.scrutiny_deadline
        if deadline:
            return deadline + timedelta(days=1)
        return None

    @property
    def days_until_eif(self) -> Optional[int]:
        eif = self.entry_into_force_date or self.max_entry_into_force
        if eif:
            return (eif - date.today()).days
        return None

    @property
    def compliance_deadline(self) -> Optional[date]:
        eif = self.entry_into_force_date
        if eif:
            return eif + timedelta(days=self.transition_period_days)
        return None

    @property
    def is_scope_expanding(self) -> bool:
        return self.legal_basis in (
            Art71Basis.ANNEX_III_AMENDMENT,
            Art71Basis.TRANSPARENCY_EXTENSION,
            Art71Basis.GPAI_OBLIGATIONS,
        )

class DelegatedActScrutinyTracker:
    def __init__(self):
        self.acts: list[DelegatedAct] = []
        self.delegation_start = date(2024, 8, 1)
        self.delegation_years = 5

    @property
    def delegation_expiry(self) -> date:
        return date(
            self.delegation_start.year + self.delegation_years,
            self.delegation_start.month,
            self.delegation_start.day,
        )

    @property
    def renewal_report_deadline(self) -> date:
        # Commission must report 9 months before expiry
        expiry = self.delegation_expiry
        return date(expiry.year - 1, expiry.month + 3, expiry.day)

    @property
    def renewal_opposition_deadline(self) -> date:
        # EP/Council must oppose 3 months before expiry
        expiry = self.delegation_expiry
        return date(expiry.year, expiry.month - 3, expiry.day)

    def add_act(self, act: DelegatedAct) -> None:
        self.acts.append(act)

    def active_scrutiny(self) -> list[DelegatedAct]:
        today = date.today()
        return [
            a for a in self.acts
            if a.status == DelegatedActStatus.NOTIFIED_TO_EP_COUNCIL
            and a.scrutiny_deadline
            and a.scrutiny_deadline >= today
        ]

    def scope_expanding_acts(self) -> list[DelegatedAct]:
        return [a for a in self.acts if a.is_scope_expanding]

    def urgency_alerts(self) -> list[str]:
        alerts = []
        today = date.today()

        for act in self.active_scrutiny():
            days = (act.scrutiny_deadline - today).days if act.scrutiny_deadline else None
            if days is not None and days <= 30:
                alerts.append(
                    f"SCRUTINY DEADLINE IN {days}d: {act.reference} ({act.title[:60]})"
                )

        for act in self.acts:
            if act.days_until_eif is not None and 0 < act.days_until_eif <= 60:
                alerts.append(
                    f"EIF IN {act.days_until_eif}d: {act.reference} — "
                    f"action required: {act.developer_action_required[:60]}"
                )

        renewal_days = (self.renewal_report_deadline - today).days
        if 0 < renewal_days <= 90:
            alerts.append(
                f"DELEGATION RENEWAL REPORT DUE IN {renewal_days}d (Commission deadline)"
            )

        return alerts

    def compliance_horizon(self) -> dict:
        today = date.today()
        horizon = {"short": [], "medium": [], "long": []}
        for act in self.acts:
            deadline = act.compliance_deadline
            if not deadline:
                continue
            delta = (deadline - today).days
            entry = {
                "ref": act.reference,
                "title": act.title[:50],
                "deadline": deadline.isoformat(),
                "days": delta,
                "scope_expanding": act.is_scope_expanding,
            }
            if delta <= 180:
                horizon["short"].append(entry)
            elif delta <= 540:
                horizon["medium"].append(entry)
            else:
                horizon["long"].append(entry)
        return horizon

# Usage
tracker = DelegatedActScrutinyTracker()
print(f"Delegation period: {tracker.delegation_start} → {tracker.delegation_expiry}")
print(f"Commission renewal report due: {tracker.renewal_report_deadline}")
print(f"EP/Council opposition deadline: {tracker.renewal_opposition_deadline}")
print(f"Active scrutiny acts: {len(tracker.active_scrutiny())}")
for alert in tracker.urgency_alerts():
    print(f"ALERT: {alert}")

The Art.98 Delegation Renewal Cycle: What 2028-2029 Means for AI Developers

The five-year delegation creates a predictable review window around 2028-2029 where the scope of the delegated power itself may be renegotiated. Historical EU legislative practice around delegation renewal includes:

Scope modification at renewal: Parliament or Council may condition non-opposition on the Commission committing to scope modifications — in practice, a soft form of delegation renegotiation Revocation as leverage: A credible revocation threat (Art.98(2)) forces Commission negotiation even without formal revocation proceedings Extension with conditions: Tacit extension is default, but politically active Parliaments have used the renewal window to extract Commission commitments on specific delegated act policies

For AI developers, the 2028-2029 window coincides with the first major AI Act evaluation cycle (Art.112 requires a Commission report to EP/Council by 2030 assessing the Act's functioning, with intermediate reporting). This creates a compound regulatory review moment where both the delegation renewal and the legislative review overlap.

Systems that will be in production between 2027–2031 face this compound review window as a planning horizon. The most likely outcome is tacit extension with no scope change, but the regulatory calendar should be in your long-term compliance architecture.

20-Item Developer Checklist: Art.98 Compliance Planning

Immediate (Within 30 Days)

Scrutiny Window Management (Per Delegated Act)

Delegation Period Milestones

Operational Integration

See Also