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Prohibited practice

By Updated

An AI practice banned outright by AI Act Article 5, such as manipulative techniques that cause significant harm, social scoring, untargeted scraping of facial images, emotion recognition at work or school, and most real-time remote biometric identification in public for law enforcement 1. No risk acceptance can cover one.

Developed in
ch. 18, Prohibited practices (Article 5)
Chapters
ch. 18, EU AI Act
Contrast with
High-risk AI system
Source
1 numbered reference, listed below

Where it is used

6 chapters of the Body of Knowledge use the term. Each link opens the first section that does.

Prohibited practice: mentions per chapter7 mentions of the term across 6 of the 23 chapters of the Body of Knowledge; the chapters the glossary cross-references are drawn solid.Cross-referenced chapterOther chapter05 Patterns: 1 mention05 Patterns108 Regulatory Map: 1 mention08 Regulatory Map113 Risk Management: 1 mention13 Risk Management114 Development: 1 mention14 Development115 Deployment: 1 mention15 Deployment118 EU AI Act: 2 mentions18 EU AI Act2No mentions in the other 17 chaptersSource: the Body of Knowledgev0.5.0
Prohibited practice: mentions per chapter7 mentions of the term across 6 of the 23 chapters of the Body of Knowledge; the chapters the glossary cross-references are drawn solid.Cross-referenced chapterOther chapter000102030405 Patterns: 1 mention105060708 Regulatory Map: 1 mention10810111213 Risk Management: 1 mention11314 Development: 1 mention11415 Deployment: 1 mention115161718 EU AI Act: 2 mentions2181920212223Source: the Body of Knowledge v0.5.0
Mentions per chapter How often each chapter names the term, with the chapters the glossary cross-references drawn solid. The longest bar is where to read the term in use; bars spread across many chapters mark a term that runs through the discipline.
Mentions as a table
Mentions of Prohibited practice per chapter
ChapterMentionsCross-referenced
00 Preface0No
01 Definition0No
02 Why Now0No
03 Values & Principles0No
04 The Stack0No
05 Patterns1No
06 The Role0No
07 Maturity Model0No
08 Regulatory Map1No
10 Reading List0No
11 AI Defined0No
12 Governance Program0No
13 Risk Management1No
14 Development1No
15 Deployment1No
16 Fairness & XAI0No
17 Incidents0No
18 EU AI Act2Yes
19 Privacy & AI0No
20 Existing Law0No
21 AI Laws Worldwide0No
22 Principles & Standards0No
23 AI Agents0No

Patterns that use this term

2 pattern pages use the term, most mentions first.

Prohibited practice: related terms and patternsThe term at the centre; related terms on solid edges, the terms it is contrasted with on dashed edges, and the patterns that use it most in the colour of their layer.RelatedContrastColour: stack layer of the pattern01 Govern-as-Code04 Runtime ControlsProhibited practiceRelated terms (2)AI Act (EU) · RelatedAI Act (EU)Risk acceptance · RelatedRisk acceptanceContrast with (1)High-risk AI system · ContrastHigh-risk AI systemPatterns using it (2)Deactivation, Localisation & Retirement Runbook, 1 mention · Uses the termDeactivationUse-Case Intake & Risk Tiering, 2 mentions · Uses the termUse-Case Intake & Risk Tiering
Prohibited practice: related terms and patternsThe term at the centre; related terms on solid edges, the terms it is contrasted with on dashed edges, and the patterns that use it most in the colour of their layer.RelatedContrastColour: stack layer of the pattern01 Govern-as-Code04 Runtime ControlsRelated terms (2)AI Act (EU) · RelatedAI Act (EU)Risk acceptance · RelatedRisk acceptanceContrast with (1)High-risk AI system · ContrastHigh-risk AI systemPatterns using it (2)Deactivation, Localisation & Retirement Runbook, 1 mention · Uses the termDeactivationUse-Case Intake & Risk Tiering, 2 mentions · Uses the termUse-Case Intake & Risk TieringProhibitedpractice
The term's neighbourhood Terms related to this one on solid edges, terms it is often confused with on dashed edges, and the patterns that use it most in the colour of their layer. Follow a dashed edge to check the distinction before you use either term.
Neighbourhood as a table
Neighbourhood of Prohibited practice
FamilyItemRelation
Related termsAI Act (EU)Related
Related termsRisk acceptanceRelated
Contrast withHigh-risk AI systemContrast
Patterns using itDeactivation, Localisation & Retirement Runbook, 1 mentionUses the term
Patterns using itUse-Case Intake & Risk Tiering, 2 mentionsUses the term
  • Risk acceptance

    A named, signed and expiring decision by someone with the authority a residual band requires, that a risk may remain for a bounded period under named…

  • AI Act (EU)

    Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, the EU's horizontal, risk-tiered law for AI, amended by the Digital Omnibus.

Sources

  1. [1] Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act), consolidated text as amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 (Digital Omnibus on AI, in force 27 Jul 2026; definitions in Art. 3, incl. 3(1), 3(3) to 3(14), 3(14b), 3(20), 3(22), 3(23), 3(29) to 3(32), 3(49), 3(55) to 3(57), 3(60), 3(61), 3(63), 3(68); Arts. 4, 5, 6 (incl. 6(3) third subparagraph, profiling), 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 22 to 27 (incl. 26(11)), 40, 41, 43, 47, 48, 50, 53 (incl. 53(1)(c)), 55, 57, 60, 72, 73, 86; Annexes I, III, IV). Publications Office of the EU (EUR-Lex). 2026-07-27. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/2026-07-27/eng (verified: primary)

Definitions of legal terms paraphrase the cited text, which governs. Dated statements are as of .

Cite this term

García Aibar, J. (2026). Prohibited practice. In AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis & Body of Knowledge (v0.5.0), Glossary. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22956197. https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/prohibited-practice. CC BY 4.0

BibTeX

@misc{aige2026prohibitedpractice,
  author  = {Jorge García Aibar},
  title   = {{Prohibited practice}},
  note    = {Glossary, AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis \& Body of Knowledge, version 0.5.0},
  year    = {2026},
  doi     = {10.5281/zenodo.22956197},
  url     = {https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/prohibited-practice}
}