The Council of the European Union has adopted the regulation to simplify the implementation of the AI Act (Digital Omnibus on AI, COM(2025) 836, on June 29, 2026 finally approved, after Parliament approved it on June 16, 2026. The procedure is thus complete. The regulation will now be published in the Official Journal and will then enter into force on the third day thereafter.
In terms of content, the omnibus bill primarily postpones the effective date of the requirements for high-risk systems; the other relief measures are somewhat more limited than expected:
- Obligations for High-Risk AI: For systems covered by Annex III, the effective date will be changed from August 2, 2026, to December 2, 2027 postponed, for systems in regulated products listed in Annex I, from August 2, 2027, to August 2, 2028.
- New Prohibition (Art. 5): As a new category, the placing on the market and use of AI systems to generate depictions of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or non-consensual intimate depictions of identifiable individuals („Nudifier“) will be prohibited. This also covers generic image and video models, provided that appropriate safeguards are lacking. Effective as of December 2, 2026. The ban does not originate from the Commission’s proposal but was added during the legislative process.
- Labeling Synthetic Content (Art. 50, para. 2): For systems placed on the market before August 2, 2026, a shortened transition period applies until December 2, 2026. The other transparency requirements (Art. 50, paras. 1, 3, and 4) will continue to apply as of August 2, 2026.
- Bias Data (Art. 4a): Providers and deployers may process data requiring special protection for the purpose of identifying and correcting bias, to the extent that this is strictly necessary.
- Real-world laboratories: The deadline for Member States to establish a real-world lab has been extended to August 2, 2027.
When it comes to the relationship with the sectoral law The omnibus bill falls short of expectations. The overlaps between the AI Act and product law will be resolved for machinery products, which will henceforth be subject solely to sector-specific safety regulations. For medical devices, toys, elevators, and watercraft, these overlaps are to be resolved through implementing regulations.
Still pending is General Digital Omnibus on the GDPR, ePrivacy, NIS2, and the Data Act.