The EU AI Act proposal: a timeline

On 12 April, 2021, the European Commission launched the EU AI Act proposal, draft legislation to promote “trustworthy AI” in the EU. Working with our civil society partners, Access Now has provided expert recommendations at every stage of the negotiations to ensure the EU AI Act protects fundamental rights. This EU AI Act timeline is a summary of civil society input and updates on the draft law.

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology opens new risks for human rights, including for people and communities targeted for discrimination and marginalisation. Access Now advocates for AI regulations based on internationally recognised human rights principles. Below is a summary of our proposed amendments to the draft EU AI Act and a timeline of our related commentary and recommendations.

Access Now’s proposed amendments to the EU AI Act


Working in coalition with a group of civil society organisations, Access Now  released a joint statement in November 2021 that calls for fundamental rights protections in the EU AI Act: An EU Artificial Intelligence Act for Fundamental Rights – A Civil Society Statement. In May 2022, Access Now worked with our coalition partners to publish the following proposed amendments,  focusing on the issues the coalition highlighted: 

Access Now’s commentary and recommendations on the EU AI Act


In addition  to our proposed amendments, we published the following to support our arguments for rights-based legislation: