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What is the maximum fine under the EU AI Act?
Three answers set the ceiling: which provision was infringed, how large the company is, and its worldwide turnover. Every band below is quoted from the consolidated text of Articles 99 and 101, current through the Digital Omnibus.
Maximum fine under Article 99(3)
€35,000,000
Fixed cap: €35,000,000. Percentage limb: 7% of turnover.
Article 99(3) takes the higher of the two.
This is the ceiling, not a prediction. The authority weighs the Article 99(7) factors: gravity, duration, cooperation, intent, and more. Read the infringed provision and the penalty article in the Explorer.
The four bands, from the text
Up to €35,000,000 or 7% of worldwide turnover, whichever is higher
Non-compliance with the prohibited AI practices in Article 5.
Up to €15,000,000 or 3%, whichever is higher
The operator and notified-body obligations: Articles 16, 22, 23, 24, 25(2) and (4), 26, 31, 33(1), (3) and (4), 34, and 50.
Up to €7,500,000 or 1%, whichever is higher
Supplying incorrect, incomplete or misleading information to notified bodies or national competent authorities in reply to a request.
Up to €15,000,000 or 3%, whichever is higher
General-purpose AI model providers, fined by the Commission directly. Article 101 states no SME or SMC relief.
Smaller companies play by a different rule
For most offenders the cap is the higher of the fixed amount and the percentage of turnover. Article 99(6) reverses that for SMEs, including start-ups: their fine is up to whichever of the two is lower. The Digital Omnibus extended the same relief to SMCs in Article 99(6a), but only for the Article 99(4) and 99(5) bands. A small mid-cap that breaches an Article 5 prohibition still faces the higher of the two.
And the ceiling is all the law sets. What an authority actually imposes weighs the Article 99(7) factors: the gravity and duration of the infringement, the number of people affected, cooperation with the authority, whether the breach was intentional or negligent, and what the operator did to mitigate the harm.
Amounts are the consolidated text of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 as amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744, in force 27 July 2026, as served in the EU AI Act Explorer. Study aid, not legal advice; the official texts on EUR-Lex are authoritative.
Knowing the ceiling is not the same as staying under it
The EU AI Act Implementation Expert program teaches the classification calls, documentation and judgment that keep a system on the right side of every band above.