DOT Europe, together with a broad coalition of industry associations, issued a joint statement on 10 April 2026 calling on EU co-legislators to reach a swift agreement on the AI Omnibus, with simplification at its core. The statement welcomes alignment between the European Parliament and the Council on fixed compliance deadlines for high-risk AI systems and the Parliament's position on Annex I, but urges targeted adjustments to ensure the framework supports innovation. Specifically, the coalition calls for extending the grace period for generative AI labelling to a realistic 12 months and covering new AI systems placed on the market after 2 August 2026, warning that unclear obligations risk legal uncertainty and delayed product releases. It also demands that non-high-risk AI systems be exempt from registration in the EU database, in line with the Commission's original proposal, to reduce disproportionate compliance burdens while preserving the AI Act's risk-based approach.
The statement builds on the European Commission's Digital Omnibus proposal unveiled on 19 November 2025 by Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, which aimed to simplify digital regulation and cut administrative costs, including for AI Act compliance. That proposal extended simplified compliance to Small Mid Cap companies and estimated over €1 billion in annual and one-off savings. Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen's own digital simplification package, also presented on 19 November 2025, targeted at least €5 billion in administrative compliance cost cuts by 2029 and proposed EU-level sandboxes to stimulate AI uptake. The industry coalition's call for swift agreement comes as the European Parliament and Council have already aligned on key aspects, but the statement argues that further adjustments are needed to ensure Europe can be both a leader in trustworthy AI and a competitive destination for AI innovation.