No fixed amount, but a number of clear items
There is no standard price for adapting contracts to the AI Regulation. What determines the costs is mainly the number of contracts that need adjustment, the extent to which your current supplier already takes the Regulation into account, and whether you handle this internally or with legal support. A company with one software supplier and a straightforward purchasing relationship typically spends less time and money than an organisation with dozens of ongoing contracts and multiple AI applications across the entire supply chain.
The costs can be roughly divided into two types: one-time costs to review existing contracts and adapt them where necessary, and ongoing costs to draft new contracts correctly from the outset and keep existing agreements up to date as the regulations are further developed. Both items are real, but the scope varies greatly per organisation.
Why there are no fixed rates yet
The AI Regulation is being phased in and not every part has yet been fully developed in delegated legislation. This means that legal service providers and industry organisations are currently working with estimates, not fixed price lists. Once more parts of the Regulation have been developed, it will also become clearer which contractual provisions are standard and which differ from situation to situation. Until then, caution with fixed amounts is warranted: anyone promising a fixed rate now is getting ahead of regulations that are still being developed.
In the meantime, it is possible to determine which contracts need attention. A good starting point is an inventory of all suppliers that provide software or systems with some form of automated decision-making, recognition or prediction. Not every contract requires the same adjustment; this depends on how the application is used and in which category it falls according to the Regulation.
What influences the costs in practice
Three factors almost always play a role in practice. First, the number and type of suppliers: a single large supplier with its own legal department often responds faster and more structured than a series of smaller parties who still need to work out what is expected of them. Second, the level of legal guidance you engage: some companies have a lawyer thoroughly review the contracts, others choose a lighter review of the main risk areas. Third, internal time: gathering information from suppliers, coordinating between procurement and legal affairs, and documenting agreements take internal hours, even if there is no external invoice to show for it.
It is therefore useful to determine in advance which contracts take priority. Supervisory authorities look at the nature and impact of the application when enforcing, not at the scope of your legal budget. A targeted approach, starting with suppliers with the greatest risk or greatest impact on your business operations, prevents costs from concentrating on less urgent contracts.
One-time versus ongoing costs
Adapting an existing contract is usually a one-time effort: provisions are added or tightened, and the parties establish who supplies which information. Ongoing costs arise when the regulations change, when a supplier modifies their application, or when you start using a new application that requires a different contractual arrangement. If you establish this well in advance, for example with a fixed procedure for new suppliers, you avoid having to address every change as a separate action.
The conversation with your supplier is in this phase at least as important as the contract itself. In the knowledge base has researched the subject matter you will find an overview of the questions that frequently come up, and how you can prepare for them without first having to become a lawyer. To get a first impression of where your company currently stands, the product scan with an indication in five questions helps to determine which contracts deserve attention first.
Assessing your own situation
Because the implementation of the regulation can differ per application and per sector, a general assessment is never a substitute for advice on your own contracts. A lawyer or the competent supervisory authority can assess which provisions are needed in your specific situation. On the page frequently asked questions about the AI Regulation are the questions that entrepreneurs most often ask us, including where the official text says something about it.
Would you like to get a picture first without immediately incurring costs? The free quick-scan provides an indication in a few minutes of where your company stands, and the knowledge bank shows per subject where that is based on.