What is Digital Omnibus?
Digital Omnibus is a proposed amendment package concerning the application of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 of the European Parliament and of the Council (the AI Act). For many organisations, the central point is that the package proposes to postpone the application of the obligations for providers of high-risk AI systems under Annex III.
It is crucial to understand the legal status of the proposal. The European Parliament approved the proposal on 16 June 2026. The Council awaits publication in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ). The proposal is not yet in force. Until an amendment is published and enters into force, the original dates in Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 apply.
What the proposal would change
The proposed amendment concerns the point in time at which the obligations around high-risk AI systems under Annex III begin to apply.
- Under Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, the Annex III high-risk obligations apply from 2 August 2026.
- Digital Omnibus proposes to postpone this application until 2 December 2027 (Digital Omnibus proposal, not yet in force).
Annex III lists the use cases classified as high-risk, including certain systems in education, employment, access to essential services, law enforcement and migration. The obligations include, among other things, requirements on risk management, data quality, technical documentation, human oversight and – for certain providers – a fundamental rights impact assessment under Article 27.
What does not change
The proposal does not affect the entire regulation. The following dates and obligations stand firm, regardless of Digital Omnibus:
- Article 4 (AI literacy) and Article 5 (prohibited practices) have been in force since 2 February 2025. Organisations must already ensure sufficient AI literacy among staff working with AI systems, and may not use the practices prohibited under Article 5.
- Article 50 (transparency obligations) applies from 2 August 2026. This date is not affected by the proposed postponement. The obligations include, among other things, that natural persons must be informed when they interact with an AI system, and that certain synthetic content must be marked.
In other words: even if the Annex III obligations were postponed, the prohibitions in Article 5, the AI literacy requirement in Article 4 and the transparency requirements in Article 50 remain in force according to their ordinary dates.
Fines stand firm
The penalty frameworks in Article 99 are not affected by the proposal:
- Infringement of the prohibited practices in Article 5: fines up to 35 million EUR or 7 % of global annual turnover.
- Infringement of, among other things, Article 50 and the high-risk obligations: fines up to 15 million EUR or 3 %.
- Incorrect information to authorities: fines up to 7.5 million EUR or 1 %.
What this means in practice
The AI Act is an EU regulation and applies directly. No separate national implementing law is required for the regulation to apply. Planning on the assumption that a postponement already applies is risky, because Digital Omnibus is not yet in force.
A more sustainable starting point is to continue complying with the obligations that already apply (Articles 4 and 5) and to prepare for Article 50 ahead of 2 August 2026, while monitoring the OJ publication to know whether and when the Annex III date actually changes.
Before procurement
- Confirm that AI literacy under Article 4 is documented for relevant staff.
- Ensure that no practices under Article 5 occur in your systems.
- Plan for Article 50 transparency by 2 August 2026 – independently of Digital Omnibus.
- Treat 2 December 2027 as a proposal, not a governing date, and monitor the OJ publication.
- Establish an AI inventory (cf. PowerQuant Module 1) so that role and risk classification can be updated quickly if the rules change.
This page is general information about the AI Act and does not constitute legal advice.