---
authoritative: false
representation: annotated-page
publisher: AstroKube
methodology: https://ai-act.astrokube.com/about/
source_verified_on: '2026-09-15'
site_content_updated_on: '2026-09-15'
title: Recital 16 | EU AI Act | AstroKube
description: 'Recital 16, EU AI Act: The notion of ‘biometric categorisation’ referred to in this Regulation should be defined as assigning natural persons to specific…'
language: en
source: https://ai-act.astrokube.com/law/recital-16/
---

1.  [Start](https://ai-act.astrokube.com/)
2.  [The law](https://ai-act.astrokube.com/law/)
3.  Recital 16

# Recital 16

This is a recital of the 2024 act: interpretive context for the operative articles, not operative law itself.

▼ Primary text, verbatim. Our annotations appear below, visibly separated.

The notion of ‘biometric categorisation’ referred to in this Regulation should be defined as assigning natural persons to specific categories on the basis of their biometric data. Such specific categories can relate to aspects such as sex, age, hair colour, eye colour, tattoos, behavioural or personality traits, language, religion, membership of a national minority, sexual or political orientation. This does not include biometric categorisation systems that are a purely ancillary feature intrinsically linked to another commercial service, meaning that the feature cannot, for objective technical reasons, be used without the principal service, and the integration of that feature or functionality is not a means to circumvent the applicability of the rules of this Regulation. For example, filters categorising facial or body features used on online marketplaces could constitute such an ancillary feature as they can be used only in relation to the principal service which consists in selling a product by allowing the consumer to preview the display of the product on him or herself and help the consumer to make a purchase decision. Filters used on online social network services which categorise facial or body features to allow users to add or modify pictures or videos could also be considered to be ancillary feature as such filter cannot be used without the principal service of the social network services consisting in the sharing of content online.

This text is meant purely as a documentation tool and has no legal effect. The Union's institutions do not assume any liability for its contents. The authentic versions of the relevant acts, including their preambles, are those published in the Official Journal of the European Union and available in EUR-Lex.

## If you would rather not read the law

The basics page explains the Regulation's own categories in order: scope, role, tier, date. The engineering view groups the obligations by the platform capability they demand.

[Start with the basics →](https://ai-act.astrokube.com/basics/) [Open the engineering view →](https://ai-act.astrokube.com/engineering/)

## About this provision

### Type

Recital

### Amended by

Not amended

### Cited capture

regulation-2024-1689/en-2026-08-18.html sha256 8f0b656302f9864c…

[Authentic text (EUR-Lex) →](http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj) [This version (EUR-Lex) →](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32024R1689)

### Machine readable

[/law/recital-16.md](https://ai-act.astrokube.com/law/recital-16.md) [/api/law.json](https://ai-act.astrokube.com/api/law.json)

### Found an error?

[Write to us →](https://astrokube.com/contact)