European Union (AI Act) vs Japan

Dimension

European Union (AI Act)

Japan

Status

In Effect (phasing in)

Act in force (soft-law)

Max penalty

Up to €35M or 7% of global turnover

No AI-specific penalty (promotion statute); APPI up to ¥100M for corporations on a PPC-order breach

Key deadline

High-risk obligations from August 2, 2026

Act in force (June–Sept 2025)

# of instruments

4

4

Headline rule

EU AI Act (Regulation 2024/1689)

AI Promotion Act — Act on the Promotion of R&D and Utilization of AI-Related Technologies (2025)

What it requires

The EU AI Act is the world's first comprehensive horizontal AI law, applying a risk-based regime across all 27 member states — and to any company serving EU users. Prohibited-use bans already apply; high-risk system obligations (conformity assessment, technical documentation, human oversight) phase in through August 2, 2026.

Japan has confirmed an innovation-first, light-touch approach. The AI Promotion Act, passed in May 2025, is a promotion statute: it sets national principles and creates a Prime-Minister-chaired AI Strategy Headquarters, but imposes no prohibitions or monetary penalties on businesses. Companies are expected to voluntarily follow the METI/MIC AI Guidelines for Business (human-centricity, safety, fairness, transparency, accountability); the only real legal exposure for AI-related data handling comes via the existing APPI privacy regime, enforced by the Personal Information Protection Commission.