The European AI Regulation, which will largely come into force in August 2026, marks a historic turning point in the regulation of technology. In a new report, the College for Human Rights warns that the protection of fundamental rights is not a 'fill-in-the-blank exercise', but requires a fundamental shift from both companies and regulators. Read a brief summary of the report below.
According to the Board, fundamental rights form the absolute basis of the new legislation. Whereas previous product regulations focused primarily on technical safety, the AI Regulation introduces an explicit focus on human values. AI systems can influence virtually every aspect of daily life: from the right to education and privacy to the right to a fair trial and non-discrimination.
The regulation takes a risk-based approach, whereby systems posing an "unacceptable risk" are simply prohibited. This includes:
Systems classified as "high risk" — such as AI in education, the judiciary, or law enforcement — are subject to very strict requirements for data governance and human oversight.
An important conclusion drawn by the Board is that the protection of fundamental rights cannot be captured in a simple checklist. "Assessment must always take place in the context of a specific system and its impact on people," the publication states. This means that employees who work with AI must become "human rights literate": they must be able to recognize and limit the specific risks in their own field of work.
Enforcing these rules poses a new challenge for market regulators, who now also have to take fundamental rights into account in their assessments. In the Netherlands, the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights will act as one of the central fundamental rights authorities to support and monitor this process.
The College's message is clear: the success of the AI Regulation ultimately depends on the skills of the people who develop, use, and control the systems. Without a deep understanding of the human impact, the law remains a paper tiger.
Download the report from the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights here
