Does the EU AI Act apply to my store outside the EU?

Research as of 1 October 2026. This guide is for online stores whose business is based outside the EU, for example in the UK, the US, Canada or Switzerland. It explains when the EU AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689) reaches your AI product images and what follows from that. It covers EU law only. For the full picture, see the labelling rules in Article 50.

Does the EU AI Act apply to a store outside the EU?

Not because of where your store is based, but possibly because of where your images are seen. For businesses that use AI systems, Article 2(1) of the AI Act distinguishes two cases:

• Point (b) covers deployers “that have their place of establishment or are located within the Union”. A store run by a company in the EU falls under it, wherever it sells.
• Point (c) covers “providers and deployers of AI systems that have their place of establishment or are located in a third country, where the output produced by the AI system is used in the Union”.

For a store outside the EU, point (c) decides. According to recital 22, the Regulation should apply to providers and deployers in third countries “to the extent the output produced by those systems is intended to be used in the Union”, to prevent circumvention and protect people in the Union.

The Digital Omnibus (Regulation (EU) 2026/1744) has not changed Article 2(1), the definitions of deployer and deepfake, or Article 50(1) to (6).

Are you a deployer?

If you use a ready-made tool such as ChatGPT, Midjourney, Canva or the Shopify image editor for store images, you are a deployer: you use an AI system “under its authority” (Article 3(4)). According to the Commission guidelines of 20 July 2026 (C(2026) 5054 final), that means deciding whether and how the system and its outputs are used; technical control is not required (para. 12).

For images, you owe the visible disclosure of deepfakes under Article 50(4). The machine-readable marking in the file (Article 50(2)) is the job of the tool’s provider, and you cannot rely on it for your disclosure (para. 117).

What does “output used in the Union” mean for your product images?

The output is the image that the AI tool generated or edited. When it counts as used in the Union is answered by the guidelines in para. 13: the transparency obligations apply to deployers outside the Union “where the deployer itself foresees dissemination and use of the AI outputs in the Union (i.e. by directing or authorising distribution within the Union, including by posting deep fakes on the globally accessible internet)”. They do not apply “where the content of the AI system reaches audiences in the Union through channels that are unforeseeable and outside their control”. As an example, they name a company in a third country that uses AI to generate a deepfake of a celebrity for an advertisement displayed in the Union: it is a deployer within the scope of the AI Act (para. 14).

Applied to a store (reading of this guide along para. 13):

The fourth row is the real uncertainty: read literally, para. 13 can already cover publishing on the open internet, while recital 22 points to intended use. There is no court decision, and the guidelines are non-binding; only the Court of Justice of the EU can interpret the AI Act authoritatively (para. 5).

What do you have to do if your store is covered?

For the images used in the Union, the same applies as for a store in the EU. Article 50 has applied since 2 August 2026, and there is no transition period for stores.

1. Find the deepfakes. Article 50(4) covers AI images that resemble existing persons, objects, places, entities or events and would falsely appear to a person to be authentic or truthful (Article 3(60)); standard editing such as colour correction is usually of minor relevance (para. 116). Details: Which images in your store need an AI label?
2. Label on the image. You must disclose that the content “has been artificially generated or manipulated” (Article 50(4)), “in a clear and distinguishable manner at the latest at the time of the first interaction or exposure” and accessibly (Article 50(5)). A note in the terms of use or deep in menus is not enough (para. 142); the obligation applies to each image and every person who sees it (para. 143). On the language: Which language does the AI label have to be in?
3. Check your files. The free AI image checker reads provenance markers in your own image files in the browser, without uploading them. A marker it finds is evidence that AI was involved; a missing marker says nothing.
4. Keep records. Per image or group of images: tool, date, classification and decision. Deployers who have not signed a code of practice assessed as adequate are expected to demonstrate how they comply by other adequate means (para. 148).

An app such as Easy AI Act Image Labels reads provenance markers on the originals in a Shopify store, suggests a label for images with a marker and, once you accept it, displays the label as an overlay in the store. Whether an image needs a label remains your decision.

Does this also apply to marketplaces and ads?

Yes, as soon as the images are used in the Union. Article 50(4) is tied to the content, not to the channel, and an ad or a marketplace listing aimed at buyers in the EU is distribution in the Union that you direct or authorise (paras. 13 and 14).

A label that your store displays over an image does not travel into feeds, marketplaces or ads, because they take the file, not the page. There you need a copy with the label burned in, or a platform feature that shows the label on the image: within very large online platforms you can rely on labelling tools that allow a clear and distinguishable disclosure, while your responsibility remains (para. 126); a note that only sits in a menu is not clear enough (para. 142). The free AI label generator places the European Commission’s icon on a copy of your image in your browser, without uploading it. What the platforms allow: AI images on marketplaces and in ads.

Do you need an authorised representative in the EU?

Not under the AI Act. It only requires providers established in third countries to appoint a representative established in the Union: for high-risk AI systems (Article 22(1)) and for general-purpose AI models (Article 54(1)). A store that uses AI tools for its images is a deployer and is covered by neither provision. Whether other EU rules require an EU contact for your products or your data processing is not covered by this guide.

Who enforces the rule against a store outside the EU?

Article 50 is enforced by the market surveillance authorities designated by the Member States and, within their competence, by the AI Office and the European Data Protection Supervisor. They can act on their own initiative or following a complaint, which any affected person and any other person with grounds to consider an infringement can lodge (para. 151). The guidelines do not say how an authority would proceed against a deployer based outside the EU.

Unfair competition law runs alongside. If a court in an EU Member State decides an unfair competition dispute, the law of the country where competitive relations or the collective interests of consumers are, or are likely to be, affected applies (Article 6(1) Rome II Regulation). Denmark does not apply that Regulation (Article 1(4)).

As of 30 September 2026, no publicly documented enforcement case on labelling AI images in online retail was known in the EU or in Switzerland. The enforcement tracker is published monthly.

What applies to stores in Switzerland?

The same rule: the AI Act does not apply in Switzerland directly, and a Swiss store is only covered under Article 2(1)(c) where its AI images are used in the Union. The details, Swiss law and the open points are in the guide Labelling AI images as a Swiss shop: when the EU rule applies. For the situation in an EU Member State, see Labelling AI images in Austria.

What about the law in the UK, the US or other countries?

This guide covers EU law only. Whether the UK, the US, Canada or any other country outside the EU has its own rules on labelling AI images was not examined for it, and no primary source on this was reviewed. Check that separately for your home country and every other market you sell to.

Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway are not covered either: the AI Act is marked as “Text with EEA relevance”, but whether and from when it applies there under the EEA Agreement was not examined.

For the AI Act itself, your home country’s law changes nothing: Article 2(1)(c) only asks whether the output of the AI system is used in the Union.

In short

A store based outside the EU falls under the EU AI Act with the AI images it uses in the Union, for instance when it sells, ships or advertises to customers there. For those images, Article 50(4) applies as it does to a store in the EU: a visible label on deepfakes, at the latest when someone first sees the image, plus records. Whether a store that does not target the EU but is accessible worldwide is covered is open; the law of your home country is a separate matter.