European retailers are seeking changes to the European Union’s incoming artificial intelligence rules, arguing that AI-generated advertising content should not automatically fall under strict disclosure requirements designed to combat deceptive deepfakes, according to a Reuters report.
EuroCommerce, a retail industry association representing major companies including Amazon, H&M, Inditex and Ikea, has asked European Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen to exclude certain AI-created advertisements from the scope of the EU AI Act.
EuroCommerce, which represents the retail and wholesale sectors in Europe, is asking EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen to exempt AI-generated advertisements from the bloc’s new regulation requiring disclosure of #AI use.https://t.co/OvJRpm22W6
— European Supermarket Magazine (@esm_magazine) June 19, 2026
The request comes ahead of the next phase of the AI Act, which takes effect on August 2 and introduces transparency requirements for content generated or altered using artificial intelligence.
Retail industry challenges deepfake classification
Under the AI Act, companies must clearly disclose when AI has been used to create or modify images, videos or audio content that qualifies as a deepfake.
In a letter sent to Virkkunen, EuroCommerce Director General Christel Delberghe argued that many AI-generated advertisements are not designed to deceive consumers and therefore should not be treated as deepfakes.
The association pointed to common retail uses of AI, such as creating images of furnished living rooms to display products or enhancing product visuals for marketing campaigns. According to the group, these applications are intended to improve presentation rather than mislead consumers.
Growing use of AI across retail marketing
Retailers across Europe are increasingly relying on AI tools to produce marketing content more efficiently.
German online fashion retailer Zalando has previously said AI technology helped reduce content production costs by about 90%. Meanwhile, fashion brands including H&M and Zara have expanded the use of AI-generated model images and digital replicas in promotional campaigns.
The growing adoption of AI-generated content has raised concerns within the retail sector that disclosure requirements could apply to a large volume of everyday marketing materials.
EuroCommerce warns of disclosure overload
EuroCommerce warned that requiring labels on most AI-assisted advertisements could weaken the purpose of transparency measures.
The group said widespread disclosure obligations may result in consumers seeing AI labels on a vast amount of retail content, reducing the effectiveness of warnings intended to identify genuinely misleading deepfakes.
Meanwhile, a coalition of major European lenders is accelerating plans to introduce a euro-pegged stablecoin, marking one of the region’s most coordinated efforts to challenge the dominance of US dollar-backed digital tokens. Just last month, Qivalis confirmed that 37 banks across 15 European countries have joined its plan to build a regulated euro-backed stablecoin.
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