Could the delay in implementing the AI Act and its standards justify a “pause”? In any case, this is one of the questions posed by the Danish Presidency of the Council of the EU to the Member States in a discussion note dated 23 September that Agence Europe was able to obtain.
The note, which was presented to the EU27 at an EU Council Working Party on telecommunications, confirms the “delay” in the process of drawing up standards for the requirements to be met by high-risk artificial intelligence systems in the EU.
According to the memo, the 31 August deadline could not be met by the bodies responsible for drawing up the standards, and work will have to continue “significantly beyond that deadline”.
“A pressing challenge to the successful implementation of obligations on high-risk AI systems, set to be applicable on 2 August 2026, is the risk that important standards are not available in advance of the application of the obligations to ensure adequate time to adapt to the new rules”, the text details.
The discussions and feedback from member countries should provide the European Commission with guidance on its future “digital simplification” package, expected in November (see EUROPE 13717/4).
In essence, the note does not rule out the possibility of incorporating the AI Act into the legislation to be simplified; on the contrary, one of the written questions asks Member States to make recommendations on the provisions of the regulation to be included, “where appropriate”, in the Commission’s “simplification efforts” (see EUROPE 13676/16).
According to several sources, the EU27 remain divided on two points: the simplifications to be made to the text and the possibility of suspending part of the implementation of the regulation (see EUROPE 13673/15).
On the question of a ‘stop-the-clock’ mechanism for the AI Act (see EUROPE 13716/8), eight Member States, including Sweden, Finland, Greece and Hungary, are in favour of the Commission postponing the implementation of the rules for high-risk systems, given the delay in drawing up the standards.
Other countries, starting with Poland, are advocating an intermediate solution, which would give suppliers more time to adapt and avoid fines. Spain and the Netherlands are opposed to any postponement. Five Member States, including France, Germany and Italy, are not taking a position at this stage, but want to see the European Commission move faster on the issue.
With regard to simplification, several Member States are asking the Commission to clarify the relationship and harmonisation of the AI Act with other European legislation. Others, including France, Portugal and Italy, remain convinced that the priority is to reduce the administrative burden on businesses.
According to several sources, Belgium and Estonia are more reluctant to amend the text.
To see the discussion note: https://aeur.eu/f/iow (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)