The EU AI Act in Austria: What Online Shops Must Disclose

The EU AI Act — formally Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 — is the first comprehensive law on artificial intelligence anywhere in the world. Because it is an EU regulation, it applies directly in Austria without needing a separate Austrian statute to bring it into force. If your online shop uses AI tools, the same core rules apply to you as to a shop in any other Member State.

This guide explains what the AI Act means in practice for Austrian e-commerce, which obligations are most likely to affect an ordinary shop, and how enforcement is being organised in Austria.

A regulation that applies across the EU

The AI Act is being introduced in phases. The bans on a small set of prohibited practices took effect on 2 February 2025. Rules for general-purpose AI models followed on 2 August 2025. Most obligations for so-called high-risk AI systems apply from 2 August 2026. The transparency duties that matter most to online shops are part of this timetable.

Because the Act is directly applicable, Austrian shops do not wait for a national law. Instead, Austria — like every Member State — designates the national authorities that will supervise and enforce the rules. Those bodies are still being set up across the EU during 2025 and 2026, and Austria is no exception.

Which category does your shop fall into?

The AI Act distinguishes between providers, who develop or place AI systems on the market, and deployers, who use them. The overwhelming majority of online shops are deployers. If you buy in a chatbot, use an off-the-shelf recommendation engine, or generate product images with a commercial AI tool, you are almost certainly a deployer rather than a provider.

This matters because deployers carry a lighter set of obligations. For most Austrian shops, the relevant duties come from Article 50, which deals with transparency.

Article 50: the transparency duties that affect shops

Article 50 is the part of the AI Act most e-commerce operators need to understand. It requires that people be told, clearly and in good time, when they are interacting with or looking at AI. In practical terms for an Austrian shop, this covers:

• Chatbots and virtual assistants: customers must be able to tell that they are talking to an AI system rather than a human, unless that is already obvious from the context.
• AI-generated or manipulated images, audio and video: this content must be labelled as artificially generated or manipulated in a machine-readable way.
• Deep fakes: image, audio or video content that resembles real people, places or events must be disclosed as artificially generated.
• Certain AI-generated text published to inform the public on matters of public interest, which is a narrower case that rarely applies to routine product copy.

For a typical Austrian shop, the two most common triggers are an AI chatbot on the website and AI-generated visuals used in product listings or marketing.

Disclosure in German for Austrian customers

The AI Act requires disclosures to be clear and understandable. In Austria, where the language of consumers is German, that means your AI notices should normally be provided in German so that customers genuinely understand them. A short line such as a statement that a customer is chatting with an automated assistant, written in plain German, is the kind of clear disclosure the Act has in mind.

This sits alongside Austria’s existing consumer-information expectations. Providing AI disclosures in German is both good practice and consistent with the way Austrian consumers are usually informed.

Who enforces the AI Act in Austria?

At EU level, the European Commission’s AI Office coordinates general-purpose AI oversight and helps ensure consistent application across the Union. At national level, each Member State designates its own competent authorities: at least one notifying authority and one market surveillance authority.

Austria is in the process of designating and formally establishing these national AI authorities, a process that is still being completed across much of the EU during 2025 and 2026. Until the Austrian arrangements are fully settled, the practical guidance for shops is unchanged: follow the transparency requirements now, because the underlying obligations flow directly from the regulation rather than from the national designation.

Practical steps for Austrian shops

• Make a short inventory of where AI appears on your site: chatbots, recommendation tools, and any AI-generated images or video.
• Add a clear German-language notice wherever customers interact with an AI assistant.
• Label AI-generated or manipulated visuals so that shoppers are not misled about what they are seeing.
• Keep a simple record of the AI tools you use and how you disclose them, so you can show your reasoning if asked.

For more background, see our overview of the EU AI Act, our complete AI Act guide, and our Austria country page.

This article is for general information and is educational, not legal advice.