Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 entered into force on 27 July 2026 and applies directly across all EU Member States without national transposition. The measure amends Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (the AI Act). The European Commission proposed the amendment on 19 November 2025 as part of the Digital Omnibus package, and the Council and Parliament reached political agreement on 7 May 2026.
Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 extends the application date for high-risk AI systems listed in Annex III of the AI Act to 2 December 2027, conditional on Commission confirmation that harmonised standards and conformity assessment tools are available. It broadens lighter-touch compliance provisions previously available only to SMEs to small mid-cap companies. The AI Office gains extended oversight of general-purpose AI models embedded in large online platforms and search engines, and new prohibitions are introduced on AI systems generating non-consensual intimate imagery and child sexual abuse material.
Providers and deployers of high-risk AI systems in Annex III categories now have until 2 December 2027 to achieve compliance, subject to Commission confirmation of supporting standards. AI developers classified as small mid-cap companies gain access to regulatory sandboxes and testing environments on the same terms as SMEs. Providers of general-purpose AI models integrated into platforms designated under Regulation (EU) 2022/1925 (the Digital Markets Act) must account for expanded AI Office oversight in their governance and risk documentation.
The 2 December 2027 extension is conditional on Commission confirmation of supporting technical standards; if that confirmation is delayed, the application date shifts accordingly. Prohibitions on unacceptable-risk AI systems under Article 5 of the AI Act remain in effect under original timelines and are not affected by the Omnibus amendments. The interplay between the amended AI Act timelines and national AI supervisory authority enforcement calendars across Member States remains an open compliance planning question for multinational operators.
Licentium advises on EU AI Act compliance and works with specialist regulatory counsel across Member States. We assist organisations with AI risk classification, conformity assessments, and governance documentation under the amended regulatory structure. Work we undertake includes AI Act applicability analysis, high-risk AI system classification assessments, general-purpose AI model regulatory mapping, and multi-jurisdiction AI governance programme design.
Source: Regulation (EU) 2026/1744, Official Journal of the European Union, 27 July 2026