Must Dutch Shops Disclose AI Chatbots?

Yes. If your Dutch webshop uses an AI-powered chatbot or automated assistant to talk to customers, the EU AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689) expects you to be open about it. The relevant rule is the transparency obligation in Article 50, which applies directly in the Netherlands because the AI Act is an EU regulation, not something the Dutch parliament had to re-enact.

What the rule actually says

Article 50 requires that people are informed when they are interacting with an AI system, unless it is already obvious to a reasonably attentive person. A chatbot that looks and behaves like a human agent is exactly the situation the rule targets. Most shops act as deployers of a chatbot rather than its developer, and the disclosure duty falls squarely on the deployer who puts the tool in front of the public.

How to comply in practice

• Add a short, visible notice when the chat opens, such as “U chat met een virtuele assistent”.
• Make the disclosure available in Dutch so it is comprehensible to your customers.
• Offer a clear route to a human where the conversation needs one.

You do not need lengthy legal wording. A single honest sentence at the start of the conversation is usually enough to satisfy the transparency requirement.

Who enforces it?

Enforcement sits with national authorities that each Member State designates. In the Netherlands this designation is still being finalised, so the safest course is to comply with the rule now rather than wait for a named regulator.

This article is educational, not legal advice.