---
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 54 | EU AI Act | AstroKube
description: 'Recital 54, EU AI Act: As biometric data constitutes a special category of personal data, it is appropriate to classify as high-risk several critical-use…'
language: en
source: https://ai-act.astrokube.com/law/recital-54/
---

1.  [Start](https://ai-act.astrokube.com/)
2.  [The law](https://ai-act.astrokube.com/law/)
3.  Recital 54

# Recital 54

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.

As biometric data constitutes a special category of personal data, it is appropriate to classify as high-risk several critical-use cases of biometric systems, insofar as their use is permitted under relevant Union and national law. Technical inaccuracies of AI systems intended for the remote biometric identification of natural persons can lead to biased results and entail discriminatory effects. The risk of such biased results and discriminatory effects is particularly relevant with regard to age, ethnicity, race, sex or disabilities. Remote biometric identification systems should therefore be classified as high-risk in view of the risks that they pose. Such a classification excludes AI systems intended to be used for biometric verification, including authentication, the sole purpose of which is to confirm that a specific natural person is who that person claims to be and to confirm the identity of a natural person for the sole purpose of having access to a service, unlocking a device or having secure access to premises. In addition, AI systems intended to be used for biometric categorisation according to sensitive attributes or characteristics protected under Article 9(1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 on the basis of biometric data, in so far as these are not prohibited under this Regulation, and emotion recognition systems that are not prohibited under this Regulation, should be classified as high-risk. Biometric systems which are intended to be used solely for the purpose of enabling cybersecurity and personal data protection measures should not be considered to be high-risk AI systems.

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-54.md](https://ai-act.astrokube.com/law/recital-54.md) [/api/law.json](https://ai-act.astrokube.com/api/law.json)

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