MB AI · Intelligence Brief · Value gap · June 10, 2026

€35 Million: The AI Act Fine No One Provisions For

It appears on no balance sheet. It shows up in no income statement. And yet it transfers to the acquirer on closing day.
David Roux · MB AI Value Intelligence · SKEMA

Article 99 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 sets the scale. For a prohibited practice (Article 5), the fine reaches up to 35 million euros or 7% of worldwide turnover, whichever is higher. For a breach of high-risk system obligations: €15M or 3%. For misleading information to authorities: €7.5M or 1%.

€35M / 7%
Maximum fine · prohibited practice · EU AI Act, Article 99

The balance sheet's invisible risk

A potential fine isn't a debt. It isn't provisioned for until it's notified. So it's absent from the financial statements the buyer reviews in due diligence — even as it sits in the law and attaches to the target's AI system. It's the perfect risk: real, quantifiable, and nowhere in the numbers.

At closing, this exposure changes owners. The acquirer of a non-compliant AI asset inherits the latent fine the way Marriott inherited the Starwood breach. Except here, the scale is known in advance — and it runs into tens of millions.

Pricing the invisible before signing

A sophisticated buyer doesn't leave a quantifiable risk out of the equation. They price it — as a discount, an escrow, a post-closing regulatory indemnity. The question isn't "does this risk exist," but "who has quantified it, and when." The D7™ score establishes the probability of high-risk classification, the level of compliance with Articles 9-15, and the associated Article 99 exposure — before the LOI, so the risk enters the negotiation instead of haunting it afterward.

Bring the latent fine out of the shadows
D7™ score · Art. 6 classification + estimated Art. 99 exposure
AI Act M&A due diligence →
Source: Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, Article 99 — Penalties.
MB AI Value Intelligence · mb-ai.frD7™ · EU AI Act + GDPR · © 2026