# Recital (19)

For the purposes of this Regulation the notion of ‘publicly accessible space’ should be understood as referring to any 
physical space that is accessible to an undetermined number of natural persons, and irrespective of whether the 
space in question is privately or publicly owned, irrespective of the activity for which the space may be used, such as 
for commerce, for example, shops, restaurants, cafés; for services, for example, banks, professional activities, 
hospitality; for sport, for example, swimming pools, gyms, stadiums; for transport, for example, bus, metro and 
railway stations, airports, means of transport; for entertainment, for example, cinemas, theatres, museums, concert 
and conference halls; or for leisure or otherwise, for example, public roads and squares, parks, forests, playgrounds. 
A space should also be classified as being publicly accessible if, regardless of potential capacity or security 
restrictions, access is subject to certain predetermined conditions which can be fulfilled by an undetermined number 
of persons, such as the purchase of a ticket or title of transport, prior registration or having a certain age. In contrast, 
a space should not be considered to be publicly accessible if access is limited to specific and defined natural persons 
through either Union or national law directly related to public safety or security or through the clear manifestation 

of will by the person having the relevant authority over the space. The factual possibility of access alone, such as an 
unlocked door or an open gate in a fence, does not imply that the space is publicly accessible in the presence of 
indications or circumstances suggesting the contrary, such as. signs prohibiting or restricting access. Company and 
factory premises, as well as offices and workplaces that are intended to be accessed only by relevant employees and 
service providers, are spaces that are not publicly accessible. Publicly accessible spaces should not include prisons or 
border control. Some other spaces may comprise both publicly accessible and non-publicly accessible spaces, such as 
the hallway of a private residential building necessary to access a doctor’s office or an airport. Online spaces are not 
covered, as they are not physical spaces. Whether a given space is accessible to the public should however be 
determined on a case-by-case basis, having regard to the specificities of the individual situation at hand.

---
Source: Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (Artificial Intelligence Act) as amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744, consolidated text of 27 July 2026 (Official Journal of the EU). This page is AI-generated legal information, not legal advice. Verify against the Official Journal.
Canonical: https://euaiactlaw.com/recital/19