EU delays high-risk AI deadlines

The Council presidency and European Parliament negotiators reached a provisional agreement on May 7 to amend the EU AI Act, pushing back the main compliance date for many high-risk systems that had been due on August 2, 2026. The Council said the new application date would be December 2, 2027 for stand-alone high-risk AI systems and August 2, 2028 for high-risk AI systems embedded in products. The changes are part of the EU’s “Omnibus VII” simplification package, which the European Commission proposed on November 19, 2025. The agreement is provisional and still needs formal approval by the Parliament and Council. ### Which deadline actually moved? Article 113 of the original AI Act set a general application date of August 2, 2026 for much of the law, including the chapter covering obligations for high-risk AI systems, according to the European Parliament’s implementation timeline. The May 7 provisional deal would replace that single date with two later dates, depending on the type of system. (consilium.europa.eu) The Council said stand-alone high-risk AI systems would move to December 2, 2027, while high-risk AI systems embedded in products would move to August 2, 2028. That means the delay is about 16 months for stand-alone systems and two years for systems tied to regulated products such as machinery or medical devices, based on the dates in the Council text. (europarl.europa.eu) ### Who negotiated this change? The European Commission put forward the amendment on November 19, 2025 as part of its Digital Omnibus on AI proposal. The Commission said at the time that it wanted “targeted simplification measures” to ensure timely and proportionate implementation of the AI Act. On March 13, 2026, EU member states agreed the Council’s negotiating position, according to the European Parliament’s Legislative Train tracker. (consilium.europa.eu) The Parliament then adopted its own negotiating position in March, and trilogue talks between the institutions produced the provisional agreement announced on May 7. Marilena Raouna, Cyprus’s deputy minister for European affairs, said in the Council statement that the agreement would support companies by reducing recurring administrative costs while keeping a more harmonised implementation across the bloc. (digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu) Her remarks were included in the Council’s May 7 press release announcing the deal. (europarl.europa.eu) ### Does this pause the whole AI Act? The AI Act itself entered into force in August 2024 after publication in the EU’s Official Journal in July 2024, and several parts of it already apply on their own timetable. The European Parliament’s timeline says the law was designed to phase in over several years rather than start all at once. (consilium.europa.eu) The May 7 agreement does not rewrite the entire structure of the law. The Council said the co-legislators “broadly maintained the thrust” of the Commission proposal while making targeted amendments, including a fixed timeline for delayed high-risk rules and the reinstatement of a database-registration obligation for some providers claiming an exemption from high-risk classification. (europarl.europa.eu) ### What else changed besides the dates? The Council said the provisional agreement added a new prohibited practice covering AI used to generate non-consensual sexual and intimate content or child sexual abuse material. The same statement said the negotiators also reinstated a requirement for providers to register certain exempted systems in the EU database for high-risk AI systems. (consilium.europa.eu) The Commission’s original November 2025 proposal also sought to extend some exemptions available to small and medium-sized enterprises to small mid-caps, reduce requirements in limited cases, allow sensitive-personal-data processing for bias detection and mitigation in narrower circumstances, and strengthen the AI Office’s powers, according to the Commission summary and the Council statement. (consilium.europa.eu) ### What happens next in Brussels? The European Parliament and the Council must still formally adopt the amended text before the new dates become law. The Parliament’s Legislative Train file lists the measure as part of the Digital Omnibus on AI and shows the file moving through the ordinary legislative procedure. (digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu) December 2, 2027 and August 2, 2028 are the dates to watch if the deal is approved as negotiated. Until that formal adoption happens, the May 7 agreement remains a provisional political deal between the Council presidency and Parliament negotiators. (consilium.europa.eu) (europarl.europa.eu)