European Parliament Approves Digital Omnibus: Major Updates to EU AI Act Take Effect August 2026
Parliament votes 423–57 to advance digital omnibus reforms, bringing transparency rules, content bans, and compliance deadlines to the EU AI Act.
Parliament Approves Digital Omnibus
The European Parliament approved the digital omnibus on 16 June 2026 by 423 votes to 57, with 174 abstentions. The Council of the European Union must formally adopt the digital omnibus changes, which is expected before 2 August 2026.
Core Prohibitions and New Compliance Deadlines
The digital omnibus adds a prohibition to Article 5 of the AI Act on AI systems that generate child sexual abuse material or that create intimate or sexually explicit images, video, or audio of an identifiable person without consent.
The nudifier ban applies to both providers placing such systems on the EU market and deployers using them for that purpose, with compliance required by 2 December 2026.
Transparency Obligations Take Effect August 2026
Most of the AI Act’s transparency obligations under Article 50 still apply from 2 August 2026, including the duty to tell people when they are interacting with an AI system such as a chatbot, and the duty for those deploying AI to clearly label deepfakes and AI-generated text published on matters of public interest.
Watermarking Requirements Phased In
The provider obligation to embed machine-readable marking in AI-generated content—the watermarking requirement—is delayed to 2 December 2026, and that extension applies to generative systems already placed on the market before 2 August 2026. Systems launched after 2 August 2026 are expected to comply with watermarking requirements right away.
High-Risk AI Timelines Extended
Stand-alone high-risk AI systems listed in Annex III move from 2 August 2026 to 2 December 2027. High-risk AI embedded as safety components in products covered by EU sectoral legislation, listed in Annex I, move from 2 August 2027 to 2 August 2028.
Broader Regulatory Changes
The deadline for member states to establish AI regulatory sandboxes moves from 2 August 2026 to 2 August 2027.
Processing special-category personal data to detect and correct bias is permitted across AI systems where strictly necessary, with safeguards.
AI that only assists users or optimizes performance will not automatically be high-risk if its failure does not create health or safety risks.
Existing exemptions for small and medium enterprises under the EU AI Act are extended to small mid-cap enterprises.
The EU AI Office gains a clearer supervisory role over certain general-purpose AI systems.
Source: Elevate Consult