European Parliament adopts AI Act Simplification Position & EDF Warns on Potential Negative Impacts for Persons with Disabilities

European Parliament adopts AI Act Simplification Position & EDF Warns on Potential Negative Impacts for Persons with Disabilities

On 16 and 29 June, the European Parliament Plenary and the Council of the EU adopted the AI Act Simplification Regulation (also known as the AI Omnibus) after an inter-institutional agreement was reached on 7 May.

According to the European Disability Forum, this ‘Omnibus’ removes several obligations for companies and authorities and weakens key protections of fundamental rights. EDF underlines 6 worrisome changes:

1. Expanded use of sensitive data

The AI Omnibus allows both developers and users of AI systems to process sensitive data without individual consent for the purpose of detecting and correcting bias. This applies not only to high-risk systems but also, under certain conditions, to all AI-systems. While the measure aims to improve fairness, it significantly broadens access to highly sensitive data.

2. Reduced powers for Fundamental Rights Authorities

The Omnibus changes how equality bodies* can access information about high-risk AI systems. Under the original AI Act, these bodies could directly request documentation from AI providers and deployers. The Omnibus removes this direct access, requiring them instead to go through market surveillance authorities. The shift risks weakening the ability of specialised authorities to effectively investigate and respond to discrimination and other rights violations caused by AI systems.

3. Delayed protections for high-risk AI

The AI Act identifies certain systems as high-risk because they can strongly affect people’s lives, including systems used in recruitment, education, credit scoring, and access to social benefits. The Omnibus delays the application of key obligations for these systems. For stand-alone high-risk systems, most rules will now only apply from December 2027. For high-risk AI systems that are part of products already regulated under other EU laws, the rules will only apply from August 2028.

4. New prohibitions on harmful content

The Omnibus introduces a ban on AI systems used to generate non-consensual intimate content and child sexual abuse material. This prohibition is welcome. These practices cause serious harm and should be clearly banned. However, the way this change was introduced raises concerns. The Omnibus was presented as a simplification effort, yet this is a substantive new prohibition. Changes of this importance should go through a more focused legislative process, with enough time for consultation, deliberation, and careful drafting.

5. Weakened AI literacy requirements

The original AI Act required organisations to ensure that people involved in using and overseeing AI systems have a sufficient level of literacy on the systems they operate.The Omnibus lowers this obligation. Organisations are now only required to support AI literacy rather than ensure it. This change is significant because users often over-rely on AI outputs, especially when they appear objective or technical. 

6. Registration of exempted high-risk AI systems

One important safeguard was preserved during the Omnibus negotiations. Under the original AI Act, if a company claims that its AI system is not high-risk even though it would normally fall under that category, it must still register that system in the EU public database. This applies to a filtering rule that allows some systems to be treated as lower risk in limited cases. For example, this can include systems that only organise information or support human decisions, such as sorting applications or preparing documents. This safeguard is important because it creates a minimum level of transparency. It allows public authorities and civil society to know these systems exist, and it limits the risk that companies could quietly exempt themselves from the AI Act without scrutiny.

However, this safeguard has been weakened. Originally, companies had to register more detailed information. Now, they must still register, but with less detail. This leaves a weaker, but still important, layer of transparency.

*Equality Bodies promote equal treatment by providing independent assistance to victims of discrimination, conducting independent surveys, publishing independent reports and making recommendations on matters relating to discrimination. More information available here and here.