---
title: "Recital 18 AI Act"
canonical: "https://dposchool.com/ai-act/recital/18"
source: "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32024R1689#rct_18"
source_note: "Source: Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, OJ L, 2024/1689, 12.7.2024; articles and annexes from the consolidated text 02024R1689-20260727. Only the text published in the Official Journal is authentic. © European Union, https://eur-lex.europa.eu"
text_as_of: "2026-10-30"
language: "en"
publisher: "DPO School"
---

Recitals

# Recital 18 AI Act

Official Journal text of 12 July 2024. Retrieved 30 October 2026.

## Official text

The notion of ‘emotion recognition system’ referred to in this Regulation should be defined as an AI system for the purpose of identifying or inferring emotions or intentions of natural persons on the basis of their biometric data. The notion refers to emotions or intentions such as happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, disgust, embarrassment, excitement, shame, contempt, satisfaction and amusement. It does not include physical states, such as pain or fatigue, including, for example, systems used in detecting the state of fatigue of professional pilots or drivers for the purpose of preventing accidents. This does also not include the mere detection of readily apparent expressions, gestures or movements, unless they are used for identifying or inferring emotions. Those expressions can be basic facial expressions, such as a frown or a smile, or gestures such as the movement of hands, arms or head, or characteristics of a person’s voice, such as a raised voice or whispering.

## Source

Source: Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, OJ L, 2024/1689, 12.7.2024; articles and annexes from the consolidated text 02024R1689-20260727. Only the text published in the Official Journal is authentic. © European Union, https://eur-lex.europa.eu

[Recital 18 on EUR-Lex](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32024R1689#rct_18)

Official Journal text of 12 July 2024. Retrieved 30 October 2026.

This is reference material, not legal advice.

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