The Commission proposed the Digital Omnibus amendments in November 2025 to address compliance bottlenecks, particularly missing harmonized standards and gaps in notified body infrastructure. The Council adopted its negotiating mandate in March, followed by the European Parliament's IMCO and LIBE committees in the same month. Tech companies and startups lobbied for relief citing implementation challenges, but the Cypriot Presidency's push for rapid resolution and the Commission's resistance to moratoriums prevented agreement.
The EU AI Act entered force August 1, 2024, with staggered implementation: prohibited AI systems banned from February 2025, general-purpose AI rules from August 2025, and high-risk systems compliance required by August 2, 2026. With that deadline now three months away, companies operating in the EU face immediate compliance obligations without the relief they sought. The collapse signals the EU's commitment to enforcing AI regulation despite acknowledged infrastructure gaps, leaving organizations little time to remediate systems or seek extensions through other channels.