08.05.2026
Practice Areas: Intellectual Property and Information Technology
AI OMNIBUS: Council and European Parliament Reach Provisional Agreement
On 7 May 2026, the Council Presidency and European Parliament negotiators reached a provisional agreement on the “AI Omnibus” proposal, which is part of the European Union’s (“EU”) simplification agenda under the Omnibus VII legislative package.
This agreement amends the AI Act, simplifying and streamlining its rules, adjusting timelines, and reinforcing protection in specific areas.
Key Changes Agreed:
- Extended application of deadlines: Application of the rules on high-risk AI systems postponed to 2 December 2027 (standalone systems) and 2 August 2028 (systems embedded in products).
- New prohibition: The use of AI to create non-consensual sexual or intimate content, as well as child sexual abuse material (CSAM), is now expressly prohibited.
- Transparency: The deadline for implementing transparency solutions for artificially generated content is reduced from six to three months, with a new cut-off date of 2 December 2026.
- Bias detection: The strict necessity standard for processing special categories of personal data to detect and correct bias has been reinstated.
- Registration obligation: The mandatory registration of high-risk AI systems in the EU database is maintained, even where providers consider their systems to be exempt.
- Regulatory sandboxes: Establishment postponed to 2 August 2027.
- Legislative overlaps: A mechanism is provided to resolve conflicts between the AI Act and sector-specific legislation (e.g. medical devices, toys, machinery). The Machinery Regulation is exempt from the direct application of the AI Act, but the Commission may adopt delegated acts to introduce additional health and safety requirements.
- Artificial Intelligence Office competences: Supervisory competences over general-purpose AI models are clarified, with exceptions maintained in areas such as law enforcement, border management, justice and the financial sector.
Next Steps:
The provisional agreement will now be submitted for formal endorsement by the Council and the European Parliament and, subsequently, for legal-linguistic revision, prior to its final adoption.
