Labelling AI images in Austria: what applies to online shops

Research as of 30 September 2026. This guide covers what applies to online shops established in Austria. The basics of the labelling obligation, meaning your role, the image types and the form of the label, are in the guide Do I have to label AI images in my online store?. This page is about what is different in Austria: who is responsible, what is still missing and what Austrian unfair competition law adds. For the full picture, see EU AI Act Article 50 explained.

Does the AI Act apply in Austria without a national act?

Yes. The AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689) is an EU regulation. Under Article 113 it “shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States”. The transparency obligations in Article 50 have applied since 2 August 2026. The obligation itself needs no Austrian legislation; the national legislator has to designate authorities (Article 70) and lay down penalties (Article 99(1)).

The Digital Omnibus (Regulation (EU) 2026/1744, in force since 27 July 2026) has not changed this. Article 2(1) (scope), Article 3(4) and 3(60) (deployer, deep fake) and Article 50(1) to (6) are unchanged. The new deadline of 2 December 2026 in Article 111(4) only concerns providers of generators and their machine-readable marking, not shops.

Who is covered in Austria?

Establishment is what counts. Article 2(1)(b) of the AI Act covers “deployers of AI systems that have their place of establishment or are located within the Union”. A shop established in Austria is therefore subject to Article 50 even if it only delivers to Switzerland or overseas.

A deployer is anyone using an AI system “under its authority” (Article 3(4)), for example when you use Midjourney, Firefly, Canva or the Shopify image editor for shop images. You then owe the visible disclosure under Article 50(4). The machine-readable marking under paragraph 2 is owed by the provider of the generator, not by your shop.

For stock images you have bought, the AI Service Desk (KI-Servicestelle) at RTR, the Austrian regulator for broadcasting and telecommunications, takes a clear line in its FAQ (accessed 30 September 2026): anyone who merely uses unedited AI images generated by third parties, without having authority over the generating AI system, is not a deployer and is not subject to the disclosure obligation in that respect. It relies on para. 16 of the Commission guidelines C(2026) 5054 final of 20 July 2026. According to the same paragraph, you should keep existing labels and metadata intact. If you edit such images with AI yourself, you are a deployer. This is an authority’s view, not a legal rule.

What do you have to do as an Austrian shop?

In substance, the same as a shop in Germany, because the obligation comes from the same regulation:

1. Classify your images. Article 50(4) applies to deep fakes within the meaning of Article 3(60): AI images that resemble existing persons, objects, places, entities or events and would falsely appear to be authentic. RTR gives the AI-generated depiction of a celebrity in an advert as an example. According to its FAQ, recognisably stylised content and minor technical adjustments such as colour correction, noise reduction or background extensions in product adverts are not deep fakes. For retail, the Austrian Economic Chamber (WKO) gives the example of an AI advertising photo showing a shop, staff or products as if it were a real photograph although it was created entirely artificially (as of 27 July 2026). The case groups in detail: Which images in your store need an AI label?
2. Label visibly. Article 50(5) requires the information to be clear and distinguishable, at the latest at the time of first exposure, and accessible. In practice: a label directly on the image with a text alternative (alt text or, for an overlay, aria-label) for screen readers. According to the guidelines, a notice in the terms of use or deep in menus is not enough (para. 142).
3. Show the product accurately. If an image shows the goods differently from what is delivered, no label helps; that is a question of Austrian unfair competition law (see below).
4. Keep records. Deployers who have not signed the Commission’s code of practice are expected to demonstrate how they comply with Article 50 (guidelines, para. 148). Per image or group of images, record the tool, the date, the classification, the decision and dated evidence that the label is visible. This is worth doing even while no authority has been designated in Austria. A template along Section 2 is in the guide The EU Code of Practice on AI labelling.

Who enforces the labelling rule in Austria?

Under Article 70 of the AI Act, every Member State must establish or designate at least one market surveillance authority; the chapter containing Article 70 has applied since 2 August 2025 (Article 113(b)). As of 30 September 2026, Austria had not done so:

The AI Service Desk at RTR is not a supervisory authority. Its legal basis is Section 20c of the KommAustria Act, under which RTR is to provide a range of information and advice and act as a service point for AI applications. It answers questions and publishes an FAQ; it does not bring proceedings against shops.

Penalties are missing as well. Article 99(1) of the AI Act requires Member States to lay down rules on penalties and other enforcement measures. As long as Austria has neither an authority nor such rules, there is no body that could impose a fine for a missing AI label. When an implementing act will follow is open.

This is a snapshot, not an exemption from the obligation. Article 50 applies whether or not an authority is watching yet, and an implementing act may change the situation.

What does Austrian unfair competition law add?

Article 50(6) of the AI Act leaves other transparency obligations under Union and national law unaffected. In Austria, the relevant law is the Federal Act against Unfair Competition 1984 (UWG). Two questions need to be kept apart:

The Schutzverband gegen unlauteren Wettbewerb (Austrian Protection Association against Unfair Competition) has commented twice. On 4 February 2026 it presented the guide of the German Wettbewerbszentrale. On 2 August 2026 it wrote that a missing label can amount to an infringement of the UWG, that photorealistic AI advertising images will have to be labelled as such, and that labelling is recommended when in doubt. It expressly relies on the German guide (as of 29 July 2026) and on the Commission guidelines. That is not a separate Austrian guideline on AI images, but it is the view of an association that takes action against unfair competition itself. By its own account (9 June 2026), it first intervenes free of charge with registered businesses (in its words, “advise rather than punish”) and only goes to court as a last resort.

Under Section 14(1) UWG, injunctive claims over misleading or otherwise unfair commercial practices can be brought by competitors, associations promoting the economic interests of businesses, the Austrian Economic Chamber, the Federal Chamber of Labour, the chambers of agriculture, the Austrian Trade Union Federation and the Federal Competition Authority, and in the case of misleading practices also by the Consumer Information Association (VKI).

New since 27 September 2026 is Section 7a UWG (Federal Law Gazette I No. 58/2026): abusive warning letters, meaning a large number of very similar warning letters, few or no lawsuits and a predominant interest in income, can themselves be the subject of an injunction, and they carry no right to reimbursement of costs. Warning letters from the bodies listed in Section 7a(4) and (5) are not covered.

German rules do not apply to an Austrian shop merely because of where it is established. The KI-MIG only determines competence in Germany; the German UWG and German mandatory information rules are German law. Another country’s unfair competition law can only apply where your shop affects competition or consumer interests on that market, for instance when selling to Germany (Article 6(1) Rome II Regulation). What that looks like in Germany is covered in the guide Who enforces the EU AI image labelling rule in your store?.

What about images from before 2 August 2026?

Here the Austrian guidance departs from the wording of the guidelines. Para. 154 of the guidelines states that deep fakes generated or manipulated before 2 August 2026 do not need to be labelled retroactively; the rule that content generated before but published after that date must be labelled is expressly stated only for texts. RTR’s FAQ says more generally that if content generated before the cut-off date is only published or first used from 2 August 2026, the transparency obligations apply, for example to deep fakes. It recommends recording when content was generated and when it was published.

For images you are only now adding to your shop, the RTR reading is the more cautious one. Both statements are views of authorities, not legal rules. More in the guide Do AI images from before 2 August 2026 need a label?

What remains open?

• Authority and penalties: who will take over market surveillance in Austria and from when fines will be possible has not been decided (as of 30 September 2026).
• UWG and a missing label: whether a missing AI label alone is unfair under the Austrian UWG has not been decided by any court. The Schutzverband considers it possible.
• Disputed image types: for AI product images that show the product accurately and for generative cut-outs, there is no binding clarification either in Austria or at EU level.
• Older images and stock images: RTR’s views on these are interpretations by an information service, not decisions of a supervisory authority.
• Guidelines: the Commission guidelines are expressly non-binding; only the Court of Justice of the EU can give an authoritative interpretation of the AI Act (para. 5).

In short

For a shop established in Austria, Article 50(4) of the AI Act has applied since 2 August 2026, regardless of where it delivers. Realistic AI images need a visible label on the image with a text alternative for screen readers; images that show the product differently from what is delivered should be replaced. As of 30 September 2026, there is no authority in Austria that checks this; unfair competition law applies regardless. If you record your decisions per image, you can explain them later, to a competitor as well as to a future authority.