EU negotiates simplification of AI Act: Trilogue agreement sought by end of April - high-risk rules to be postponed
What it really says
The EU is currently negotiating the so-called Digital Omnibus Regulation on AI in trilogue proceedings, aimed at streamlining the AI Act. The European Commission presented the proposal on 19 November 2025. The Council adopted its position on 13 March 2026, the EU Parliament followed on 26 March 2026 - trilogue negotiations began the same day. The next political trilogue is scheduled for 28 April 2026, targeting a political agreement. The key changes: rules for stand-alone high-risk AI systems (Annex III of the AI Act) would apply from 2 December 2027 rather than August 2026 as originally planned. For AI systems embedded in products governed by sectoral EU safety legislation, the deadline is 2 August 2028. A new separate deadline is introduced for transparency obligations regarding synthetic content: providers must meet watermarking requirements for AI-generated audio, image, video and text content by 2 November 2026. Parliament also wants to make sectoral conformity assessment procedures the primary compliance pathway for embedded AI systems.
Our assessment
The Omnibus Regulation is a double-edged sword. On one hand, postponing the high-risk deadlines is pragmatic: companies and supervisory authorities had repeatedly signalled that the original August 2026 deadline was unrealistic - guidance, harmonised standards and supervisory structures were lacking. A regulation that nobody can implement protects nobody. On the other hand, simplification carries risks: if the EU takes the pressure off, companies may delay compliance preparations. Critics such as the Jacques Delors Centre warn that the Omnibus Regulation is heading in the wrong direction and diluting the AI Act's protective standards. The truth likely lies in between: more time for implementation makes sense, but only if that time is actually used to build effective supervisory structures rather than serving as a pretext to hollow out the AI Act.
Relevance for Germany
For German companies the news is directly relevant. Many have been working towards the August 2026 deadline for months, with sometimes considerable investments in compliance structures, risk management systems and documentation. The postponement to December 2027 and August 2028 respectively provides breathing room - but also risks that initiated projects are scaled back. Particularly affected are AI applications in human resources (recruiting, performance evaluation), which the AI Act classifies as high-risk and which are increasingly deployed in German companies. The watermarking obligation for synthetic content from November 2026 remains in place and affects every provider of AI-generated media. Germany must also have its national AI supervisory authority fully established by August 2026 - the Omnibus Regulation does not change this obligation.
Fact check
The core facts - Commission proposal of 19 November 2025, Council position 13 March 2026, Parliament position and trilogue start 26 March 2026, next political trilogue 28 April 2026, postponed deadlines (2 December 2027 for Annex III systems, 2 August 2028 for embedded systems), watermarking deadline 2 November 2026 - are consistently reported by the EU Parliament's Legislative Train Schedule, Allen Overy Shearman Sterling, IAPP and the EU Parliament Think Tank. The criticism of diluting the AI Act comes from the Jacques Delors Centre. Whether the trilogue on 28 April will actually produce an agreement is not yet settled - the Cypriot Council Presidency is aiming for this, but individual sticking points (particularly the AI Office's enforcement powers and delineation from sectoral legislation) could require further negotiation rounds.
Source
- • EU Parliament Legislative Train Schedule (europarl.europa.eu/legislative-train/package-digital-package/file-digital-omnibus-on-ai)
- • Allen Overy Shearman Sterling 01.04.2026 (aoshearman.com/en/insights/digital-omnibus-on-ai-what-is-really-on-the-table-as-trilogues-begin)
- • IAPP Analysis (iapp.org/news/a/eu-digital-omnibus-analysis-of-key-changes)
- • EU Parliament Think Tank (europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/EPRS_ATA(2026)785685)
- • Jacques Delors Centre (delorscentre.eu/en/publications/detail/publication/the-eus-digital-and-ai-omnibus)