EU Council and European Parliament negotiators reached a provisional political agreement on 7 May 2026. The instrument is the Digital Omnibus on AI Regulation, part of the EU Omnibus VII simplification package. It amends the EU AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689), which entered into force on 1 August 2024. The agreement remains provisional; formal adoption by both institutions and Official Journal publication are still pending.
The EU AI Act is the controlling regulation. Article 6 sets classification rules for high-risk AI systems. Annex III lists the covered use cases. The Omnibus agreement introduces two new fixed application dates for high-risk obligations: 2 December 2027 for stand-alone high-risk AI systems covered by Article 6(2) read with Annex III; and 2 August 2028 for high-risk AI systems that are safety components of products listed in Annex I subject to EU harmonisation legislation. The agreement also extends to small mid-cap companies the simplified technical documentation requirements previously available only to SMEs under existing AI Act provisions.
AI system providers and deployers classified as high-risk gain additional time before mandatory compliance begins. Developers at small mid-cap companies can now use the simplified technical documentation formats previously available only to SMEs. Developers seeking real-world testing conditions gain access to an EU-level regulatory sandbox alongside existing national sandboxes. A new prohibited practice is added to Article 5 of the AI Act. It bans AI systems from generating non-consensual sexual and intimate content or child sexual abuse material.
The Commission is separately consulting on draft guidelines for high-risk AI classification under Article 6(5). That consultation closes 23 June 2026. The Omnibus also resolves a duplication between the AI Act and the Machinery Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, aligning conformity assessment obligations for AI embedded in machinery. Formal adoption and Official Journal publication remain pending, so the application dates agreed here are not yet in force.
Licentium advises on EU AI Act compliance and maintains a partner network covering affected EU jurisdictions. Work we undertake includes AI Act obligation scoping for high-risk system providers and deployers, regulatory sandbox access applications, technical documentation preparation, and AI governance review for enterprise teams.