What the Act covers
The AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689) entered into force on 1 August 2024 and applies in stages. Annex III lists employment uses as high-risk, including AI intended to place targeted job advertisements, analyse and filter applications, and evaluate candidates, and AI used to make decisions on promotion, termination or task allocation.
The Act applies to providers that place such systems on the EU market and to deployers that use them in the EU, wherever the provider is based. A recruiter using an AI screening tool for EU candidates is generally a deployer.
When obligations apply
The European Commission has proposed changes that could delay some high-risk obligations. Check the current timeline before planning around these dates.
| Date | What applies |
|---|---|
| 2 February 2025 | Prohibited practices, including emotion recognition in the workplace, and the AI literacy duty. |
| 2 August 2025 | Rules for general-purpose AI models and governance. |
| 2 August 2026 | Most high-risk obligations, including those for Annex III employment uses, as originally scheduled. |
What deployers must do
- Use the system according to the provider's instructions for use.
- Assign human oversight to people with the competence, training and authority to carry it out.
- Make sure input data under the deployer's control is relevant to the system's purpose.
- Monitor operation and keep the logs the system generates for at least six months, unless other law says otherwise.
- Inform workers' representatives before using high-risk AI in the workplace, and inform candidates that they are subject to a high-risk AI system.
- Give affected people an explanation of the AI's role in a decision when they have a right to one.
How SynergicHire supports deployers
| Duty | What SynergicHire does |
|---|---|
| Human oversight | A named person signs off every round and records every outcome. The recommendation is advice, never a decision. |
| Transparency | Candidates are told what an AI reads, what is recorded and who decides, before they apply and before each screen or round. |
| Logs | An append-only activity log, with exports that are themselves logged. |
| Explainability | Every score cites the answer or edit it rests on. A score that cannot cite evidence is dropped and reported as a gap. |
| Prohibited practices | No camera proctoring and no facial or emotion analysis. Voice audio is kept only if you turn it on. |
| Data protection | Retention schedules, logged deletion requests, a DPA and a published subprocessor list. |
This is general information, not legal advice
This page summarises the law at a high level as we understand it on the date below. Laws, regulations and official guidance change, and how they apply depends on your circumstances. Speak to your own counsel before relying on it.
Using SynergicHire does not make an employer compliant on its own. Deployer duties such as informing workers' representatives, training the people who oversee the system, and any fundamental-rights or data-protection impact assessment your organisation needs stay with the employer.
Questions
Is AI resume screening high-risk under the EU AI Act?
Yes. Annex III lists AI intended to analyse and filter job applications and to evaluate candidates as high-risk.
Is emotion recognition in interviews allowed under the EU AI Act?
No. AI that infers emotions in the workplace is prohibited, with narrow medical and safety exceptions, from 2 February 2025. SynergicHire does no facial or emotion analysis.
When do the high-risk rules apply to recruitment AI?
From 2 August 2026 under the original schedule. The Commission has proposed delaying some high-risk obligations, so check the current timeline.
Does the EU AI Act apply to companies outside the EU?
It can. It applies to deployers using AI in the EU and to providers placing AI on the EU market, and to output used in the EU, wherever the company is based.