In a recent press release, the Council of the European Union announced that a provisional agreement on the Digital Omnibus Regulation on AI (hereinafter the “Omnibus”) was reached, introducing certain amendments to the EU AI Act (hereinafter the “Act”). Most notably, the provisional agreement revises the timeline for the applicability of certain provisions of the Act, particularly concerning the obligations applicable to high-risk AI systems.
In this respect, the application of the obligations with respect to high-risk AI systems listed under Annex III of the Act would be postponed to 2 December 2027. For high-risk AI systems which are embedded in products, the relevant obligations would instead apply from 2 August 2028.
The deadline for the establishment of national AI regulatory sandboxes is also being postponed to 2 August 2027. Furthermore, the grace period for providers to implement transparency solutions for artificially generated content is being reduced, with the deadline now set for 2 December 2026.
The provisional agreement also introduces a new prohibited practice under Article 5 of the AI Act, banning the use of AI systems that generate non-consensual intimate imagery, as well as material amounting to child sexual abuse.
These amendments are not yet in force and will only come into effect following the formal adoption of the Omnibus and its subsequent publication in the Official Journal of the European Union, which is expected to take place over the coming weeks, ahead of the original 2 August 2026 milestone.
We will continue to monitor the situation, and we will provide further updates once formal adoption and publication in the Official Journal have been confirmed.
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