What is the EU AI Act? A Simple Guide for Lithuanian Businesses

The EU AI Act is a European Union regulation that, for the first time in the world, establishes uniform rules for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) across all Member States, including Lithuania. Officially known as Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, it is commonly referred to as the AI Act. In short, it is a law that defines how companies and organisations can develop, provide, and use AI systems to ensure they are safe, transparent, and do not violate human rights.

If your company uses tools like “ChatGPT”, “Microsoft Copilot”, AI-powered translation, accounting, or customer service tools, the EU AI Act is already relevant to you. And not in the distant future, but since 2 February 2025. For Lithuanian micro-enterprises, the most important thing is to understand your role, the applicable deadlines, and practical obligations - not the entire theoretical framework of the regulation.

Why was the EU AI Act created?

Artificial intelligence has become an everyday work tool in just a few years - from text generation to decision-making. However, this has also introduced risks: biased algorithms, personal data leaks, disinformation, and opaque automated decisions affecting people (e.g., credit scoring or hiring).

The EU decided not to wait for these issues to escalate and adopted a single, unified regulation for all 27 Member States. The main goal is to ensure that AI in Europe is:

• safe for people and their rights;
• transparent - people must know when they are interacting with AI;
• accountable - it must be clear who is responsible for AI decisions;
• trustworthy - AI must perform as claimed.

Important: this is a regulation, not a directive. This means it applies directly in Lithuania without the need for national legislation to transpose it. That is why we refer to the AI Act in Lithuania as an already effective legal act.

Who does the EU AI Act apply to?

Short answer: practically everyone who uses, provides, or develops AI in the EU market. Many Lithuanian small businesses mistakenly believe the regulation only applies to large tech giants or AI developers. This is not true.

The regulation defines several roles, and for small businesses, the most relevant is usually the deployer (user) role - when you use someone else’s AI tool in your operations. For more details on who exactly is covered, read our article on who the EU AI Act applies to. For an explanation of all key roles and terms, see our EU AI Act timeline.

For micro-enterprises (1 - 30 employees), the most important facts are:

What are the AI risk categories?

The EU AI Act is based on a risk-based approach - the higher the risk to people, the stricter the rules. The regulation classifies AI systems into four categories:

1. Unacceptable risk - prohibited. Examples include social scoring of people or manipulative behaviour control.
2. High risk - strictly regulated. Examples include AI in recruitment, credit scoring, or critical infrastructure.
3. Limited risk - transparency requirements apply. For example, chatbots must disclose that they are AI.
4. Minimal risk - largely unregulated. This includes most common office tools (AI writing, translation, text summaries).

Most Lithuanian micro-enterprises use minimal or limited risk systems. This is good news - the strictest obligations likely do not apply to you. However, this does not mean you can do nothing. For more on how to correctly classify your tools, read our article on AI Act risk categories.

When does the EU AI Act come into force?

The regulation does not take effect all at once but in stages. Here are the key dates:

The most important date for small businesses is 2 February 2025. From this date, Article 4 on AI literacy applies. As amended on 27 July 2026, this article requires providers and deployers to take measures to support the development of AI literacy among their staff and relevant persons, considering their knowledge, experience, training, context, and the people who may be affected. There is no obligation to guarantee a specific or sufficient individual level of literacy. For more details on what this means in practice, see our article on EU AI Act Article 4 requirements.

What does the EU AI Act mean in practice for a Lithuanian business?

Stripping away the legal jargon, the regulation means three practical things for a small Lithuanian business:

1. You need to know which AI tools you use. You cannot comply with the rules if you do not know that employees are writing page descriptions with “ChatGPT” or that designers are generating images with AI tools. The first step is to create an inventory of AI tools.

2. You need measures supporting AI literacy. Employees who use AI must understand what they can and cannot do: which data is safe, how to verify AI outputs, and where the risks lie. This has been mandatory since 2 February 2025. The EU AI Act does not require a specific training duration, special certificates, a fixed set of documents, external auditors, or a dedicated AI officer. Our prepared documents and quiz are practical recommendations, not a mandatory legal minimum or a guarantee of compliance.

3. Record the measures you take. An AI use policy, tools register, activity record and employee guide can help explain how AI is used and what measures have been taken. Article 4 does not prescribe this particular document set. Not volumes of paperwork - just what is proportionate to your size and context.

This may sound daunting for a small business, but in reality, most of this work can be done quickly. For example, nebedirbam.lt automatically prepares a practical Article 4 documentation package - AI usage policy, AI tool registry, compliance log, and employee AI guide - for a fixed €149 + VAT (€299), using expert-reviewed templates and without consultation queues. To learn what these documents are and how they look, see our article on Article 4 requirements.

How is AI literacy different from documentation?

This is often confused. Article 4 of the EU AI Act requires AI literacy - meaning people’s knowledge and skills. Documentation (policy, registry, guide) is evidence that you are fulfilling these obligations and controlling AI usage.

Training supports learning, while records describe the actions taken. Paperwork does not replace genuine literacy measures. Records can also help identify what to improve. Our package includes both practical parts, although Article 4 does not prescribe a particular document or training format.

If you first want to try the basic training yourself and obtain a completion certificate, you can start with our free AI literacy training. If you also need full documentation, it’s worth considering the complete package. The free path is for one signed-in participant; team training is included in the paid documentation package.

Common myths about the EU AI Act

• “It only applies to big companies.” No. The AI literacy obligation applies to all businesses, regardless of size.
• “It only takes effect in 2026.” No. Some obligations, including Article 4, have applied since 2 February 2025.
• “We don’t use AI.” You probably do - you just don’t realise it. Translation, text generation, customer chatbots, and accounting automation often use AI.
• “We’ll need expensive lawyers.” Most micro-enterprises can get by with proportionate, standardised documentation that can be prepared automatically.
• “AI literacy requires a special certificate or specific training.” No. The requirement is to take measures to support literacy development, but it does not specify how this must be done.
• “GDPR bans all AI.” No. GDPR bans the use of unapproved or public tools without a lawful basis, data minimisation, and proper safeguards. A specific assessment is required, but this does not mean a blanket ban on AI use.

What are the first steps?

If your company has not done anything yet, here is a practical plan:

1. List all the AI tools you use - including the “invisible” ones (browser extensions, automation).
2. Assess the risk category - most tools will be minimal or limited risk.
3. Ensure AI literacy - train employees who work with AI, considering their knowledge, experience, and context.
4. Prepare documentation - a policy, registry, compliance log, and employee guide.
5. Update as tools change - compliance is not a one-time task.

Want to dive deeper? Start with our EU AI Act timeline to freely understand the concepts, then review who exactly the regulation applies to and what the risk categories are. All articles on this topic can be found in our article list.

Where can I find the official text of the EU AI Act?

The official text of the regulation in all EU languages is available on the EUR-Lex portal (eur-lex.europa.eu) by searching for “Regulation (EU) 2024/1689”. Additional explanatory materials and FAQs are published on the European Commission’s Digital Strategy page (digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu). These are reliable primary sources if you want to verify formulations.

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This article’s legal references and dates are based on official EU AI Act sources: AI Act Service Desk - Article 4 and European Commission Digital Strategy page.

Summary

The EU AI Act is the world’s first comprehensive AI regulation, and it applies directly in Lithuania. For small businesses, it means three things: knowing which AI tools you use, supporting the development of staff AI literacy (the obligation applied from 2 February 2025), and maintaining proportionate documentation. The original literacy obligation applied from 2 February 2025; the amendment of 27 July 2026 clarifies the duty to support development without guaranteeing any individual level. The good news is that for most micro-enterprises, this is not complicated and does not require lawyers: proportionate guidance, training and records can provide a practical starting point, with specialist advice where the context calls for it.