Most SMEs approaching EU AI Act compliance assume they are on their own. They see the regulation, feel overwhelmed, and start searching for consultants or expensive platforms. What many do not realize is that the European Commission and EU Member States are required to provide a significant amount of free support — and much of it is already live.
This article covers the official resources available to SMEs at no cost: expert guidance, compliance tools, regulatory sandboxes, and dedicated SME measures written directly into the law.
The AI Act Service Desk
The European Commission operates a dedicated AI Act Service Desk at ai-act-service-desk.ec.europa.eu. This is not a generic help page. It is a staffed service with expert teams answering real compliance questions.
What you get access to:
- Compliance Checker — An interactive tool that walks you through a series of questions about your AI system. Based on your answers, it determines your classification (minimal, limited, high-risk, or prohibited) and lists the specific obligations that apply to you. This alone can save hours of legal research.
- AI Act Explorer — A browsable, searchable interface for the full regulation. Unlike reading the Official Journal PDF, the Explorer lets you navigate by chapter, article, and recital with cross-references and plain-language summaries.
- Expert Q&A — You can submit specific compliance questions online and receive guidance from the Commission's expert team. If you are unsure whether your AI system qualifies as high-risk, or what "deployer" means for your use case, this is the place to ask.
The Service Desk is free, available in English, and open to any organization subject to the AI Act. If you have not visited it yet, start there before hiring a consultant.
AI Regulatory Sandboxes (Articles 57-58)
Regulatory sandboxes are controlled environments where you can develop, test, and validate AI systems under the supervision of national authorities — before full market deployment.
Each EU Member State must establish at least one AI regulatory sandbox by August 2, 2026. These are not hypothetical future programs. They are a legal requirement under Article 57.
What sandboxes offer
- A supervised environment to test innovative AI systems
- Direct guidance from competent authorities on compliance requirements
- The ability to test and iterate without immediate enforcement risk
- A testing period of up to 6 months, extendable by another 6 months
- Clear safeguards: informed consent from participants, no negative effects on subjects, and all personal data deleted after the testing period
SME priority access
Article 58 explicitly gives SMEs and startups priority access to regulatory sandboxes. This is not a suggestion — it is written into the regulation.
Article 58(2)(d) goes further: participation in regulatory sandboxes shall be free of charge for SMEs and startups. Larger organizations may face fees, but small and medium enterprises are exempted.
If you are developing an AI system and are uncertain about its risk classification or compliance requirements, a sandbox gives you the opportunity to test under supervision, ask questions directly to regulators, and adjust your approach before commercial deployment.
To find your national sandbox, check your country's national competent authority for AI or the AI Office's published list of established sandboxes.
Article 62: Dedicated SME Support Measures
The AI Act does not just mention SMEs in passing. Article 62 creates a set of dedicated support obligations that Member States and the AI Office must fulfill. These are legally binding requirements, not aspirations.
Here is what Article 62 mandates:
- Priority access to regulatory sandboxes — As noted above, SMEs go to the front of the queue.
- Awareness raising and training — Member States must organize specific activities to help SMEs understand and comply with the AI Act. This means workshops, guidance documents, and training programs targeted at smaller organizations.
- Dedicated communication channels — SMEs must have access to specific channels for questions and advice about compliance. These are separate from general regulatory contact points.
- Facilitating participation in standardisation — SMEs must be supported in participating in the development of harmonised standards. Standards development can be expensive and time-consuming; Article 62 ensures smaller organizations are not excluded.
- Proportionate conformity assessment fees — When conformity assessments are required (for high-risk systems), fees must be reduced proportionately based on organization size and market position.
- Standardised templates from the AI Office — The AI Office must develop templates that SMEs can use for compliance documentation. Instead of hiring lawyers to draft everything from scratch, you will be able to start from official templates.
These measures are not optional for Member States. If your country has not yet established these support structures, it must do so by the time the relevant provisions apply.
GPAI Code of Practice
If your company uses general-purpose AI models — ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, Claude, Gemini, or similar tools — the GPAI Code of Practice is directly relevant to you.
The Code of Practice was developed under the AI Act framework and establishes voluntary commitments from GPAI providers around transparency, copyright compliance, and safety. As of early 2026, 29 signatories have committed to the Code, including:
- Amazon (AWS, Bedrock)
- Anthropic (Claude)
- Google (Gemini, Vertex AI)
- Meta (Llama)
- Microsoft (Azure OpenAI, Copilot)
- OpenAI (GPT, ChatGPT)
- Mistral AI
- Cohere
- Samsung Electronics
- Stability AI
What this means for SMEs
When your GPAI provider is a signatory, they have committed to:
- Providing transparency about their model's capabilities and limitations
- Complying with EU copyright rules in training data
- Conducting safety evaluations for systemic risk models
- Sharing relevant information with downstream deployers (that is you)
Practical step: Check whether the AI providers you rely on are signatories. If they are, you can reference their Code of Practice commitments in your own compliance documentation. If they are not, you may need to do more due diligence on your own.
The AI Pact
The AI Pact is a separate voluntary initiative where organizations commit to adopting AI Act principles ahead of the legal deadlines. Over 230 companies have signed the AI Pact, making voluntary pledges in three areas:
- AI governance strategy — Establishing internal AI governance before it becomes mandatory
- AI system mapping and risk assessment — Inventorying AI systems and classifying their risk levels
- Staff awareness and AI literacy — Training employees on AI use and the AI Act
The AI Pact is not legally binding. Signing it does not guarantee compliance and failing to meet pledges carries no penalties. However, it serves two purposes for SMEs:
- Checking whether your partners and vendors have signed gives you a signal about their readiness for compliance.
- Signing the AI Pact yourself demonstrates proactive commitment to compliance, which can be valuable when dealing with enterprise customers or investors who ask about your AI governance posture.
You can view the list of signatories and sign the AI Pact at the European Commission's digital strategy portal.
Key Links
All of these resources are free and publicly accessible:
- AI Act Service Desk: ai-act-service-desk.ec.europa.eu
- AI Act Explorer: artificialintelligenceact.eu/ai-act-explorer
- Full AI Act text (Official Journal): eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj
- GPAI Code of Practice: digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/gpai-code-practice
- AI Pact: digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/ai-pact
- AI Office: digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/ai-office
What to Do Next
If you are an SME working toward EU AI Act compliance, do not start by purchasing tools or hiring consultants. Start with the free resources:
- Use the Compliance Checker on the AI Act Service Desk to determine your obligations.
- Check whether your AI providers are GPAI Code of Practice signatories.
- Contact your national competent authority about regulatory sandbox availability.
- Watch for standardised templates from the AI Office as they are published.
- Take our free risk assessment quiz to understand your organization's current risk profile.
The EU built these resources specifically for organizations like yours. Use them.