Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen, in a written answer on 3 July 2026, stated that the AI Act's prohibition on real-time remote biometric identification (RBI) in publicly accessible spaces for law enforcement has been in effect since 2 February 2025, but enforcement provisions only begin on 2 August 2026, meaning no action can be taken until then. The answer responds to a question from MEPs Markéta Gregorová (Verts/ALE), Leila Chaibi (The Left), and David Cormand (Verts/ALE) about French police using 'NEO' phones with facial recognition software linked to the TAJ database, which contains millions of files including sensitive data.
Virkkunen outlined the three narrow exceptions under Article 5(1)(h) of the AI Act that permit real-time RBI: targeted search for victims of serious crimes and missing persons, prevention of imminent threats to life or terrorist attacks, and localization of suspects of serious crimes listed in Annex II. She emphasized that any such use requires prior authorization from a judicial or independent administrative authority. The Commission will monitor the matter closely, but enforcement cannot begin until the AI Act's governance provisions take effect in August 2026. This leaves a gap between the ban's start and its enforceability, potentially affecting civil liberties groups concerned about privacy and data protection, as well as law enforcement agencies seeking clarity on permissible uses. The answer provides no concrete assessment of the French system's compliance, deferring to future enforcement.