Fundamental Rights Impact Assessment (FRIA)

Turn legal complexity into a one hour sense check.

Introduction

During the EU funded ALIGNER Horizon 2020 project (Grant 101020574) our team co created the Fundamental Rights Impact Assessment, often called AFRIA. Two linked spreadsheets guide a project lead through questions on data, transparency and impact. A built-in matrix scores each answer as low, limited, serious or critical and proposes clear next steps that board members can understand in minutes.

AI ORA’s contribution

We distilled more than eighty pages of legal guidance into two auto linked worksheets, matched every prompt to the precise GDPR article and draft EU AI Act clause, and aligned the scoring with the risk registers that most UK SMEs already use. FRIA is now cited by European law enforcement agencies and is available under an open licence.

Project impact

Using FRIA at concept stage brings three main benefits

  • Governance approval moves faster. Pilot teams turned reviews that once took weeks into a few days by presenting a complete risk register.
  • Rework costs drop. Red flags appear long before code is written, often saving thousands in redesign.
  • Audit evidence is created automatically. Every answer is stored, so SMEs can show proof to customers, investors and regulators.

The same set of questions powers our Readiness Accelerator diagnostics and our data governance sprints. Each AI ORA engagement therefore starts with EU grade compliance thinking.

Why it matters to business leaders

Protect your brand, control cost and gain trust without wading through legal texts. AI ORA provides a workflow created with European regulators and embedded in every step of your AI journey.

Learn more:

Access the FRIA template on the official ALIGNER website here
https://aligner-h2020.eu/fundamental-rights-impact-assessment-fria/

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