Up to 7% of Turnover Ref: Art. 71
Non-compliance penalties can reach €35M or 7% of global revenue.
THE 2026 COMPLIANCE FRAMEWORK
Is your hiring process legal under the EU AI Act?
The new regulations classify recruitment AI as "High Risk." Here is the executive guide to understanding your liability, avoiding fines, and automating compliance before the deadline.
The Red Zone
Unacceptable Risk
High Risk
Recruitment & Selection Systems
Limited Risk
Minimal Risk
Any AI system used for screening, ranking, or shortlisting candidates sits in the High-Risk zone.
THE WHY
Recruitment is now a "High Risk" activity. Ref: Annex III
Under the EU AI Act, any software used for screening, ranking, or selecting candidates is classified as High Risk. This means mandatory governance, transparency, and human oversight are no longer optional—they are federal law.
Mandatory Logging Ref: Art. 12
You must maintain automatic logs of every decision for forensic auditing.
Explainability Ref: Art. 13
"Black box" AI screening is effectively banned. You must explain why a candidate was rejected.
THE CHECKLIST
The 4 Obligations for HR Leaders.
Data Governance
The Law: Training data must be free of bias and errors.
The Fix: BlindStairs validates stability. We test for demographic parity before a single candidate is scored.
Record Keeping (Logging)
The Law: Automatic recording of events (logs) over the system's lifetime.
The Fix: The "Black Box" Recorder. We generate an immutable, timestamped ledger of every screening decision automatically.
Human Oversight
The Law: Humans must be able to intervene and oversee the AI.
The Fix: Co-Pilot Mode. BlindStairs doesn't decide; it surfaces insights. The human always has the final click.
Transparency
The Law: Candidates must know they are interacting with AI.
The Fix: Automated Disclosure. Our candidate portal handles legal notifications and consent forms for you.
THE PRODUCT PITCH
Compliance is an infrastructure problem.
Manual Compliance (The Old Way)
- Hiring legal consultants per audit
- Manual spreadsheets for decision logs
- "Black Box" vendor algorithms
- Retrofitting old ATS tools
BlindStairs (The Safe Way)
- ✅ Built-in Governance Engine
- ✅ Automated Forensic Logging
- ✅ Transparent, Explainable Scoring
- ✅ Native Layer on top of your ATS
THE BRUSSELS EFFECT
Built for Europe. Ready for the World.
The EU AI Act is setting the global standard, similar to GDPR. NYC 144, California's draft rules, and UK guidelines are following suit.
EU · Active
US · Pending
NYC 144: Active
UK · Pending
One standard covers you globally.
LEAD MAGNET
Get the Executive Summary.
Download our 12-page whitepaper: "Navigating the EU AI Act for Talent Acquisition." Includes a vendor audit checklist.
No spam. Just practical implementation guidance for HR, legal, and procurement.
Updated for the final May 2024 text of the EU AI Act.