EU AI Act Compliance - Use ISO Standards to Move Fast (and Right)

Regulation is catching up with AI. The EU Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) is now on the books, with core obligations phasing in from 2025 and a general date of application in August 2026. Organisations that prepare an AI Management System now will be in a stronger position to demonstrate governance, reduce risk and win trust.

Why ISO/IEC 42001 is the missing piece

ISO/IEC 42001 is the world’s first management system standard for AI. It tells you how to establish, implement and continually improve an AI governance framework—covering risk, impact assessment, lifecycle controls and supplier oversight. Think of it as “ISO 9001 or ISO 27001, but for AI”.

designed to help teams understand 42001 concepts and the AI Act’s expectations.
Integrate with your existing security and risk systems via ISO 27001 and ISO 31000 training.

Map the AI Act to standards you already use

Security & privacy: Use ISO 27001
to anchor access control, logging, supplier security and incident response for AI systems.
Risk: Apply ISO 31000
for enterprise risk, and ISO/IEC 23894 for AI-specific risk identification, evaluation and treatment.
Data protection: Align model/data governance with Data Protection
best practice to support GDPR obligations around data minimisation, lawful basis and DPIAs.

Key dates you should know

August 2025: early obligations begin for parts of the governance framework (including general-purpose AI providers) and national authorities designation milestones.
2 August 2026: general date of application for the AI Act’s enforcement rules; full effect by 2027. Plan backward from this date for audits, testing and supplier contracts.

Related regulatory wave: if you operate in the EU financial sector, DORA applies from 17 January 2025; for essential entities, NIS2 transposition deadlines landed in October 2024—both reinforce the need for disciplined cyber/operational resilience.

A practical 8-step roadmap (that fits your training plan)

Stand up governance. Nominate an AI risk owner and cross-functional forum; define policy aligned to ISO/IEC 42001.
Inventory your AI. Catalogue systems, use-cases, data sources and suppliers; tag by AI Act risk category.
Risk assess. Use ISO 31000 and ISO/IEC 23894 methods to identify, score and treat AI risks. ISO
Security hardening. Map controls to ISO 27001 (identity, data security, logging, change, incident).
Data protection by design. Embed DPIAs and retention rules; upskill teams via Data Protection
Model lifecycle controls. Define requirements for dataset quality, testing, documentation, human oversight and post-deployment monitoring.
Supply-chain due diligence. Flow down obligations; require attestations/evidence from model/API vendors.
Awareness & competence. Train teams with AI Education
; leadership with Leadership
; and risk/security owners with ISO 27001 and ISO 31000

What good looks like by Q4 2025

Policy & roles formalised; AI inventory complete and risk-tagged.
Risk and DPIA templates live; first wave of high-exposure use-cases assessed.
Security baselines for AI pipelines aligned to ISO 27001.
Supplier clauses updated for AI obligations and incident notification.
Training completed for technical teams, product owners and senior leadership via Certified CPD.

Why invest now

Early movers reduce remediation costs, prevent rushed re-engineering in 2026, and signal trust to customers and regulators. The combination of ISO/IEC 42001, ISO 27001, ISO 31000 and solid data protection practice creates a defensible position—whatever your AI roadmap brings next. Start with AI Education and build outward.