Digital Omnibus on AI

What it changed

• High-risk dates: Requirements for Annex III systems apply from December 2, 2027 instead of August 2, 2026, and for AI in products under Annex I Section A from August 2, 2028 instead of August 2, 2027 — fixed dates instead of the Commission's proposal to tie them to the availability of standards.
• Machinery moves to Section B: The Machinery Regulation moves from Section A to Section B of Annex I (Recital 42). AI-related safety and conformity questions for machinery are assessed under the Machinery Regulation from January 20, 2027; AI-specific additions to its Annex III follow through Article 8 delegated acts by August 2, 2028, and a new Article 20(10) lets AI Act harmonized standards support conformity in the meantime. See the machinery AI timeline.
• Safety component: The amended Article 6 narrows what counts as a safety component: integration into a regulated product is not enough, and pure assistance, optimization or convenience functions are excluded unless their failure would endanger health or safety.
• New prohibitions: AI generating non-consensual intimate imagery and child sexual abuse material, prohibited from December 2, 2026.
• Transparency: Article 50 still applies from August 2, 2026; only the marking duty for systems already on the market gets a grace period until December 2, 2026.
• Simplification: Relief on documentation and quality management for smaller companies, a replaced Article 4 on AI literacy (providers and deployers take measures to support it instead of ensuring a sufficient level) and wider supervision by the AI Office.

How it applies

• Technical documentation: The postponement is time to prepare, not an exemption. Harmonized standards for high-risk AI are expected in the meantime, and documentation built to them now will be ready when the obligations apply.
• Machinery: August 2, 2028 is not the first date for AI in machinery. The machinery-law assessment of AI functions that affect safety or control begins on January 20, 2027.
• Citing the law: Refer to the AI Act “as amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744”, or use the consolidated text on EUR-Lex, to avoid quoting outdated dates.

Compared with the USA, Canada and China

The Omnibus is one of several EU omnibus packages to reduce regulatory burden, in a year when the USA sought to preempt state AI laws and Canada chose not to revive AIDA. It delays and simplifies the AI Act but keeps its structure; the EU remains the only one of the four with a comprehensive AI law.