EU AI Act delay
European Parliament committees voted to fix new compliance deadlines for high‑risk AI systems—pushing key triggers to December 2027 and August 2028 while the Act still starts applying for most businesses from August 2026. The law bans 'unacceptable risk' systems and threatens fines up to €35 million or 7% of global turnover—legal advisers warn SMEs and standard business software used in hiring, credit and public services may be unexpectedly exposed and should be audited. (ppc.land) (kinstellar.com) (xpert.digital)
IMCO and LIBE adopted the joint negotiating position by 101 votes in favour, 9 against and 8 abstentions during the mid‑March committee votes. (aiacto.eu) The package was steered in Parliament by IMCO rapporteur Brando Benifei and LIBE rapporteur Dragos Tudorache under a joint committee procedure, with the committee adoption recorded around 18–19 March 2026. (europarl.europa.eu) Parliament’s position is due to go to plenary on 26 March 2026 and follows the Council’s earlier adoption of a negotiating stance on 13 March 2026, together setting up trilogue talks between Commission, Council and Parliament later this month. (insideprivacy.com) The committees linked any extension of high‑risk timelines to the availability of harmonised standards, and the CEN‑CENELEC JTC21 standardisation effort — involving hundreds to over a thousand experts — is explicitly expected to produce those supporting standards. (europarl.europa.eu) Amendments in the committee text also introduce new prohibitions on certain non‑consensual image‑manipulation tools and tighten transparency rules for AI‑generated content, while the first draft Code of Practice on watermarking was published by expert groups on 17 December 2025. (epium.com) Law‑firm briefings from Kinstellar and other international practices advise SMEs to audit vendor contracts and common business applications used in hiring, credit scoring and public services because predictive HR and credit decisioning systems are treated as high‑risk and carry additional documentation and registration duties. (kinstellar.com) Committee texts emphasize that obligations already in force remain applicable and that the adopted negotiating mandate only frames trilogue bargaining — companies are therefore being urged to continue preparedness and compliance work as the institutional talks proceed. (aiactblog.nl)
