EU AI Act Risk Classification Questionnaire for Software Exporters
Software houses in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh build AI features for European clients, and the EU AI Act can apply to them even though they sit outside the EU. Build a guided questionnaire that walks a developer through the Act's structure (prohibited practices, high-risk categories, transparency duties, general-purpose AI), cites the exact article for every step, and produces a plain-language summary of likely obligations to discuss with a lawyer.
Beginner
Achievable by one student in a semester with familiar tools.1 semester · 1 to 2 students
6 to ship
3 optional extrasSuggested stack
What you should ship
- A decision tree encoded as data (not code) covering scope, prohibited practices, Annex III high-risk areas, transparency obligations and general-purpose AI, each node citing the article or annex
- A guided questionnaire UI with plain-language explanations, examples and 'not sure' answers that are carried into the result
- A result page listing the likely category, the reasons, the key obligations and their application dates, with a clear 'this is not legal advice' notice
- Versioning of the rules with a change log, because dates and details have already been amended
- Automated tests: at least 40 example AI systems with expected outcomes, reviewed by a teacher or a law student
- A PDF or Markdown export for sharing with a client or lawyer
If you have time left
- Urdu and Bangla interface text
- A comparison mode showing the same system under the NIST AI RMF
- Saving and revisiting assessments as a system changes
The problem: a law written in Brussels affects a team in Lahore
The EU AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689) entered into force in August 2024. It can apply to providers outside the EU when their AI system is placed on the EU market or its output is used in the EU. That makes it relevant to outsourcing companies in South Asia building AI features for European clients: a CV-screening tool, an exam-proctoring feature or a credit-scoring model may land in a regulated category.
Most developers have never read the Act. The structure is learnable (prohibited practices, high-risk systems in Annex I and Annex III, transparency duties, general-purpose AI), but the details are dense and the dates have moved. As of 2026, the AI Omnibus, in force since 27 July 2026, moved the obligations for high-risk systems in Annex III areas to 2 December 2027 and for high-risk AI in regulated products (Annex I) to 2 August 2028, while prohibitions, AI literacy, general-purpose AI and transparency duties kept their earlier timetable. Always check the current official text before relying on dates.
What already exists and the gap
- The EU AI Act Compliance Checker published by the Future of Life Institute offers a short online questionnaire.
- Law firms and consultancies publish guides and paid assessment tools.
- The official text on EUR-Lex is authoritative and long.
The gap is an open, versioned, well-tested questionnaire aimed at developers, where every step cites its article and the rules live in data that can be updated when the law changes.
Inspiration
Tax and benefits calculators often encode rules as data so that experts can review them without reading code. The same "rules as data" approach suits a law that is still being amended.
What you build
- A rules file with every question, answer path and citation.
- A friendly questionnaire that explains terms as you go.
- A result page that is honest about uncertainty.
- Tests for dozens of example systems.
The technically interesting part
- Modelling uncertainty. "Not sure" is a valid answer. The result should show which obligations depend on it.
- Versioning. When a date changes, old assessments should show which rules version they used.
- Testing a law. Writing 40 test cases forces you to read the Act carefully, which is the real learning.
How you will evaluate it
- Test-case agreement with expected outcomes reviewed by someone with legal training.
- A usability test with developers: can they complete an assessment in under 15 minutes and explain the result?
- Coverage: which parts of the Act are modelled and which are deliberately left out.
Path to a product
Software exporters need a first answer before paying for legal advice. An open questionnaire can feed a paid service: a register of assessments, client-ready reports, or a partnership with a law firm.
Scope warning
This is an educational tool, not legal advice, and it must say so on every result. Keep to the Act's main structure. Do not attempt sector-specific product legislation in Annex I beyond flagging that it applies.
Learn what you need on Sefism
- AI governance roadmap: the EU AI Act, risk tiers and how companies respond.
- AI governance cheat sheet: key terms and dates in one page.
- EU GDPR rules for business: the data protection law that sits alongside the AI Act.
- NIST AI Risk Management Framework: a non-legal framework to compare with.
- Next.js Learn: building the questionnaire app.
- Playwright documentation: testing the questionnaire paths end to end.
- What does an AI governance job involve?: who uses this kind of assessment at work.
Get help with this idea
The risk is oversimplifying a law until the result is wrong. Tauseef can help you scope what to model, structure the rules and find someone to review your test cases. If you are new here, create a free account first.
Ideas and guidance, not finished projects
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