Major Retailers Demand Exemption From EU's AI Ad Labeling Rule

The European trade association Eurocommerce, which represents the continent's largest retailers, has formally asked the European Commission to exempt ordinary advertising materials created with artificial intelligence from the new labeling requirement. At issue is Article 50 of the EU's AI Act, whose remaining provisions take effect on August 2.

In a letter addressed to European Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen, who is responsible for tech sovereignty and digital affairs, Eurocommerce argues that AI-generated advertising materials should not be treated the same as deepfakes. The organization proposes excluding from the definition images that are not intended to mislead the viewer.

What Retailers Want Exempted

Delberghe spells out exactly which AI marketing uses should be freed from the labeling requirement. These include generating visualizations of an interior in which a piece of furniture is displayed, or enhancing the aesthetics of product photos for sales purposes.

AI-generated materials that are not intended to mislead users, for example generating an image of a living room to show a sofa in it, or enhancing product visualizations for presentation purposes, should fall outside the scope of the regulation - Christel Delberghe, Director General of Eurocommerce

The Scale of AI Use in Retail

Eurocommerce's argument rests on the scale at which retailers already use generative AI. Zalando says automating the production of marketing content has cut its costs by nearly 90 percent. Clothing retailers are also increasingly using digital clones of models instead of traditional photo shoots, further complicating the question of where ordinary editing ends and content requiring a label begins.

The organization stresses that mandatory labeling of every image, video or campaign created with AI will generate additional bureaucracy without a clear benefit to consumers, who the industry says are already aware that promotional materials are digitally processed.

Risk of Label Devaluation

Eurocommerce also raises the risk of devaluing the labels themselves. According to the organization, an excess of warning labels on routine advertising materials will train consumers to ignore them, weakening the effectiveness of labeling where it actually matters, for example in political deepfakes or fake recordings of public figures.

The company adds that under the current shape of the rules, liability for a single ad could fall simultaneously on the AI tool provider and the advertiser, creating a risk of double legal liability for the same material.

Brussels' Position

The European Commission has consistently defended the broad scope of the transparency requirement, arguing that realistic AI-generated faces, voices and images make it harder for consumers to distinguish human-made content from algorithmic content without clear labeling. Brussels has not yet said whether it will take the retail industry's demands into account before the August deadline.

The dispute concerns the same stage of AI Act implementation that is already forcing other companies operating in Poland to adjust their practices. Allegro (a leading Polish e-commerce marketplace) has ordered sellers to label AI-generated photos ahead of the August deadline, and starting August 2, customer-service chatbots in Poland will have to explicitly disclose that they are not human. Eurocommerce's demand concerns a narrower but far more numerous segment: everyday product ads generated en masse by retail chains.

For Polish e-commerce companies and retail chains operating in the EU market, the outcome of the dispute carries direct financial weight. Penalties of up to 15 million euros or 3 percent of global turnover also apply to local branches of international retailers, and the lack of clear guidance on the scope of exemptions means a risk of inconsistent interpretation of the rules across member states even before the regulation takes effect.