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POSITION | DIGITAL POLICY | ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Digital Omnibus on AI Industrial AI must be viewed as an opportunity, not a risk.
23 February 2026 Executive Summary The Digital Omnibus on AI offers an important opportunity to stabilise the implementation of the AI Act. However, without targeted adjustments, the proposal risks adding complexity instead of reducing it. BDI therefore calls for a sequenced, proportionate and industry-oriented refinement of the framework, prioritising legal certainty, predictable timelines and workable obligations. 1. Separation of Timeline decision and Timeline Extension. The lengthy ordinary legislative procedure risks undermining the proposal's core purpose on the extension of the timelines: enabling smooth, innovation-friendly standards implementation and restoring planning certainty for AI providers and deployers. To ensure the timeline provisions will have a substantial relief effect, we urge The EU Commission to split timeline changes from the broader AI Act Omnibus (points 30-31 plus corresponding recitals) and the parliament to fast-track its adoption. Additionally, the proposal for postponing highrisk requirements must establish a fixed postponement date rather than a dual mechanism that allows the Commission to unilaterally trigger delays and create additional planning uncertainty. 2. High-Risk Requirements (Annex I and Annex III). The current interplay between the AI Act and sectoral product legislation remains unresolved. Fragmented obligations, unclear conformity assessment pathways and overlapping requirements risk delaying market access. To restore coherence, Annex I Sections A and B should be merged, and AI-specific obligations integrated into sectoral regimes that already govern these products. 3. Notification and Conformity Assessment. The proposed adjustments do not yet deliver genuine simplification. Scope extensions must be possible through gap assessments, dependency on sectoral regulation for single application/single assessment must be removed, and technology-based partial notifications in Annex XIV Section 2(3) abandoned. The internal control procedure under Article 43(3) must remain free from opt-outs to safeguard internal market consistency. 4. Scope: Research, Development and Testing. Articles 2(6) and 2(8) require clear exemptions for research, development and testing, including real-world testing prior to market placement. Without such clarity, Europe risks constraining industrial and academic innovation and delaying safety-relevant model evaluation.
Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie e.V. / Federation of German Industries EU Transparency Register: 1771817758-48 | German Lobbyregister: R000534 Polina Khubbeeva and Florian Pühl | Digitalisation and Innovation | www.bdi.eu