Reducing complexity in Europe’s digital rulebook
News
24 Mar 2026
Digital, simplification

The EU’s digital regulatory landscape has expanded significantly in recent years. While the creation of these rules pursues important objectives, their interaction has not always been fully aligned, creating legal uncertainty and increased compliance burdens for businesses.  

The European Commission’s proposals for a Digital Omnibus and the Digital Omnibus on AI Regulation Proposal (AI Omnibus) both offer opportunities to improve coherence across the EU’s digital rulebook while supporting Europe’s competitiveness in the digital economy. Both initiatives represent a positive step forward, but further refinements will be needed to ensure they fully deliver on their objectives while maintaining high standards for safety and fundamental rights. 

The AI Omnibus focuses on the AI Act, while the Digital Omnibus addresses broader elements of the digital acquis, including data and cybersecurity legislation. Together, they aim to reduce fragmentation and streamline obligations across multiple frameworks. Explore below how these proposals can better support innovation and competitiveness in Europe.

Artificial intelligence

The AI Omnibus proposal comes at a critical moment as the AI Act moves into implementation. Ensuring the stability of the horizontal framework should remain the priority, with future legislative adjustments carefully sequenced and aligned to avoid duplicative or premature requirements.  

More clarity is needed on how the rules will work in practice, including timelines, oversight and links with cybersecurity laws. As discussions on the AI Omnibus approach continue, policymakers should support targeted changes. These include extending compliance for high-risk AI to December 2027, as well as transparency obligations for all AI systems and removing registration requirements for narrow or procedural tasks uses in certain sectors. This will provide certainty and support AI use in Europe. 

Data and cybersecurity

Across data protection and cybersecurity legislation, businesses increasingly face overlapping obligations, divergent reporting requirements and inconsistent application across Member States. The Digital Omnibus proposal takes initial steps to address these challenges, including efforts to streamline compliance and improve coherence across the EU’s data framework. 

In particular, proposals such as a single EU-level entry point for incident reporting highlight the potential to reduce fragmentation. However, further work is needed to harmonise reporting requirements, clarify the interaction between different instruments and ensure that simplification measures deliver tangible reductions in administrative burden. 

Additional clarifications in areas such as data protection and data-sharing rules will also be important to provide legal certainty and support the development and deployment of innovative technologies. 

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