{"id":122967,"date":"2025-11-15T20:48:24","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T19:48:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ceadigilaw.org\/blog\/the-european-ai-act-the-digital-omnibus-and-the-reality-europe-can-no\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T20:48:24","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T19:48:24","slug":"the-european-ai-act-the-digital-omnibus-and-the-reality-europe-can-no","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ceadigilaw.org\/ar\/blog\/the-european-ai-act-the-digital-omnibus-and-the-reality-europe-can-no\/","title":{"rendered":"The European AI Act, the Digital Omnibus and the reality Europe can no longer ignore"},"content":{"rendered":"<div lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p id=\"ember50\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\">By <a class=\"seVZkUMdlXHExvaoRUqmIRWAjXpYSHRBY \" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/antoniotejedaencinas?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_miniProfile%3AACoAAAO5uAUBTmNWRF840-NhjqJoNkRvO5n1Ekg\" target=\"_self\" data-test-app-aware-link=\"\"><strong>Antonio Tejeda Encinas<\/strong><\/a> | CEO of <a class=\"seVZkUMdlXHExvaoRUqmIRWAjXpYSHRBY \" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/metachannelcorporation\/\" target=\"_self\" data-test-app-aware-link=\"\"><strong>Meta Channel Corporation<\/strong><\/a> | President of the <a class=\"seVZkUMdlXHExvaoRUqmIRWAjXpYSHRBY \" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/ceadigilaw\/\" target=\"_self\" data-test-app-aware-link=\"\"><strong>Euro-American Committee of Digital Law &#45; CEA Digital Law<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"ember51\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\"><strong>I. A starting point Europe has tried to gloss over<\/strong><\/p>\n<p id=\"ember52\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\">In 2024 Europe celebrated the adoption of the EU Artificial Intelligence Act (Regulation (EU) 2024\/1689) \u2013 the AI Act \u2013 as though it were a watershed moment. The narrative was simple: ethical leadership, protection of citizens and a regulation the world would admire.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember53\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\">The reality has been rather different. While the speeches were being made:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The EU attracted just <strong>10%<\/strong> of global AI investment in 2024\u20132025.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The US<\/strong> accounted for <strong>65%<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Asia<\/strong>, for <strong>25%<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>European start-ups in critical sectors \u2013 health, fintech, automation \u2013 moved straight to the US so that they could operate without obstacles.<\/li>\n<li>Mistral AI, one of the few European-born companies with global ambitions, opened an office in San Francisco in order to grow.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p id=\"ember55\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\">This is not a question of whether or not to \u2018comply\u2019. It is a design problem: <strong>the framework created to protect has built a wall that only Big Tech can climb<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember56\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\">Which brings us to the second piece on the board.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember57\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\"><strong>II. Before fixing the AI Act, Europe has already set another process in motion: the Digital Omnibus<\/strong><\/p>\n<p id=\"ember58\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\">In late 2025 the European Commission put forward what it calls the <strong>Digital Omnibus<\/strong>: a package of coordinated reforms to \u2018simplify\u2019 the European digital ecosystem, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>adjustments to the AI Act,<\/li>\n<li>amendments to the GDPR,<\/li>\n<li>a review of the ePrivacy rules,<\/li>\n<li>alignment with DORA,<\/li>\n<li>and harmonisation with MiCA and the DMA.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p id=\"ember60\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\">Its formal presentation is scheduled for <strong>19 November 2025<\/strong>, although much of the content is already circulating in drafts and leaks.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember61\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\">The official message is \u2018simplification\u2019. The political effect is something else: <strong>an admission that Europe\u2019s current digital framework does not work coherently<\/strong>. And this confirms what the market has sensed for a year.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember62\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\"><strong>III. Europe does not have a one-off problem: it has four simultaneous fault lines<\/strong><\/p>\n<p id=\"ember63\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\"><em>1. Regulatory fault line: too many rules, no coordination<\/em><\/p>\n<p id=\"ember64\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\">The AI Act, the GDPR, MiCA, the DMA, DORA and sector-specific regulation form a system whose parts were never designed to coexist.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember65\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\">Clear examples:<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember66\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\"><strong>AI-assisted medical diagnosis <\/strong>\u2013 The AI Act requires large, representative datasets. \u2013 The GDPR requires strict data minimisation. The company must <strong>maximise and minimise<\/strong> at the same time.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember67\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\"><strong>Biometrics <\/strong>The same fingerprint may count as highly sensitive data or fall outside \u2018high risk\u2019 altogether, depending on how it is used.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember68\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\"><strong>Finance <\/strong>\u2013 AI Act: high risk. \u2013 GDPR: mandatory human intervention. \u2013 DMA: interoperability. \u2013 Financial supervisors: statistical validation.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember69\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\">The European Parliament has already acknowledged it: <strong>\u2018lack of coordination, duplicated costs and contradictory criteria\u2019<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember70\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\">The Digital Omnibus tries to correct part of the problem, but exposes a bigger one: <strong>Europe legislated before building an institutional architecture capable of sustaining that level of regulation.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p id=\"ember71\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\"><em>2. Economic fault line: European costs that make it impossible to compete<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Compliance with the AI Act for a high-risk system costs <strong>\u20ac500,000 to \u20ac2 million<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Aggregate impact on the EU in 2025: <strong>10.9 billion<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Result: <strong>90% of the European GPAI market in the hands of US companies<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p id=\"ember73\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\">The Digital Omnibus does not remove this imbalance. It merely proposes partial, temporary relief for mid-caps and start-ups. It does not resolve the underlying asymmetry.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember74\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\"><em>3. Timing fault line: timetables out of step with reality<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>High-risk obligations: August 2026.<\/li>\n<li>Technical standards: Q2 2026, at best.<\/li>\n<li>Notified bodies: most not yet designated.<\/li>\n<li>Regulatory guidance arriving <strong>after<\/strong> the rules have entered into force.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p id=\"ember76\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\">The Digital Omnibus provides for delays and \u2018clock-stops\u2019. Not because Europe wants to be flexible, but because <strong>it cannot get there in time<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember77\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\"><em>4. Global fault line: Europe competes alone<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>US: light-touch regulation and rapid adaptation.<\/li>\n<li>China: strict control + <strong>50 billion in subsidies<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Europe: rigid regulation + <strong>no equivalent subsidies<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p id=\"ember79\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\">Foundation models in 2025: \u2013 Europe: 3 \u2013 US: 40 \u2013 China: 15<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember80\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\">This is not a cyclical problem: it is structural.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember81\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\"><strong>IV. The AI Act relaxation reported in the press is not a reform: it is an admission<\/strong><\/p>\n<p id=\"ember82\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\">The leaks (FT, Reuters, Tech Policy Press) point to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>delayed penalties,<\/li>\n<li>exemptions for medium-sized companies,<\/li>\n<li>relaxed GPAI rules,<\/li>\n<li>a clock-stop for high-risk systems.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p id=\"ember84\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\">The Digital Omnibus is the formal vehicle for introducing these adjustments. But its origin is clear: <strong>Europe has realised that the regulation, as it stands, is not sustainable in practice<\/strong>. Uncertainty, however, keeps growing: every leak causes paralysis. And the absence of clear political communication heightens the sense of improvisation.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember85\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\"><strong>V. What really works in 2025\u20132028?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Smart defensive classification <\/strong>Preventing systems from \u2018falling\u2019 into the high-risk category by default.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Avoiding open source without contractual traceability <\/strong>Especially until 2027.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Automated documentation from CI\/CD <\/strong>Not optional: it is the only way to withstand simultaneous audits.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Active use of national sandboxes <\/strong>Spain, Germany and France are acting as regulatory decompression zones.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Honest communication with investors<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p id=\"ember87\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\"><em>\u2018We are aligning evolving standards with documentation that is traceable from the pipeline\u2019<\/em>. In an unstable environment, this message builds trust.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember88\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\"><strong>VI. Who is executing rather than improvising<\/strong><\/p>\n<p id=\"ember89\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\">This point matters.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember90\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\">Few organisations work at the genuine intersection of the legal, the technical and the operational. META Channel Corporation is one of them.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember91\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\">While others divide regulations up by department, META Channel Corporation translates the AI Act, the GDPR, MiCA, DORA and sector-specific regulation into <strong>a single operating model<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember92\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\">This makes possible something most organisations do not even know where to begin with: <strong>making five regulatory frameworks work as if they were one<\/strong>, without internal contradictions.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember93\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\">It is neither theory nor marketing. It is architecture. And it is what makes it possible to keep building while others are still debating interpretations.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember94\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\"><strong>VII. Europe needs clarity, not more layers of regulation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p id=\"ember95\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\">The AI Act was born of a legitimate political conviction. The Digital Omnibus is born of an urgent institutional need. But a continent cannot stand on principles alone. It needs coherent rules, realistic timetables and regulators who talk to each other.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember96\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\">If the Digital Omnibus amounts to minor adjustments rather than an in-depth reform, Europe will prolong its uncertainty until the end of the decade. Meanwhile, businesses cannot wait for Brussels to get its house in order.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember97\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\">The only sensible strategy is to prepare for the most realistic scenario: <strong>an AI Act that is partly corrected, partly watered down and applied by authorities that will go on interpreting it unevenly for years<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ember98\" class=\"ember-view reader-text-block__paragraph\">Those who adapt to that scenario will be able to compete. Those who do not will be trapped between rules that do not fit together.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Antonio Tejeda Encinas | CEO of Meta Channel Corporation | President of the Euro-American Committee of Digital Law &#45; CEA Digital Law I. A starting point Europe has tried to gloss over In 2024 Europe celebrated the adoption of the EU Artificial Intelligence Act (Regulation (EU) 2024\/1689) \u2013 the AI Act \u2013 as though [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116386,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_cea_women":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1126],"tags":[],"cea_women":[],"class_list":["post-122967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inteligencia-artificial-ar"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ceadigilaw.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ceadigilaw.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ceadigilaw.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ceadigilaw.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ceadigilaw.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ceadigilaw.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ceadigilaw.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ceadigilaw.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ceadigilaw.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ceadigilaw.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122967"},{"taxonomy":"cea_women","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ceadigilaw.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cea_women?post=122967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}