EU Parliament Committees Adopt Joint Position on AI Act Simplification, European Union, March 2026

On March 18, 2026, the European Parliament's Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) and the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) adopted a joint position on proposed amendments to the AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689) as part of the European Commission's Digital Omnibus package. The joint position addresses proposed changes to Articles 2, 6, and 17 of the AI Act, which relate to scope, high-risk AI system classification thresholds, and compliance documentation requirements. The committees' position reflects the legislative stage of an ongoing European Parliament internal review of Commission proposals to simplify and reduce compliance obligations under the AI Act.

The AI Act, which entered into force on August 1, 2024, imposes tiered obligations based on risk classification. Article 6 establishes the criteria for classifying AI systems as high-risk; Article 17 requires providers of high-risk AI systems to establish quality management systems. The Digital Omnibus proposals put forward by the Commission in early 2025 seek to adjust these provisions to reduce administrative burdens, particularly on small and medium-sized enterprises. The IMCO/LIBE joint position sets out the committees' agreed amendments to those proposals ahead of the full Parliament's consideration.

Market participants deploying or providing high-risk AI systems in the European Union must monitor the legislative outcome of the Digital Omnibus process closely. If the Parliament and Council reach agreement on the proposed modifications to Article 6, the classification criteria that determine whether a given AI system falls within the high-risk category will change. Providers who currently assess their systems as not meeting the high-risk threshold under the existing Article 6 criteria may need to reassess, and providers already subject to Article 17 quality management obligations may see those requirements adjusted. No amendments are in force at this stage; the AI Act as adopted in 2024 remains the applicable law pending completion of the ordinary legislative procedure.

The Digital Omnibus legislative process remains open. Following the committees' joint position of March 18, 2026, the next procedural step is consideration by the full European Parliament. The Council of the EU must also adopt its own position before trilogue negotiations can begin. Until the ordinary legislative procedure concludes and any amending regulation enters into force, providers and deployers of AI systems subject to the AI Act must continue to comply with its current text, including the August 2, 2026 deadline for high-risk AI systems listed in Annex III to come into full compliance.

We advise clients on AI Act compliance obligations, high-risk classification analysis, and Digital Omnibus legislative developments across the European Union. Our partner network covers AI regulatory counsel, technical conformity assessment support, and EU market access advisory. We invite you to contact us to discuss how the evolving AI Act amendments may affect your operations. Our work in this area includes: AI Act high-risk classification review, Article 17 quality management system design, CE marking and conformity assessment preparation, AI system documentation and transparency obligations, and EU regulatory strategy for AI product deployment.

Source: European Parliament, IMCO and LIBE Committees, Joint Position on Digital Omnibus AI Act Amendments, adopted March 18, 2026. Available at: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/imco/home/highlights. Confirmed March 25, 2026.

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