Digital Omnibus: Proposals to simplify digital rules to enhance competitiveness and foster innovation

Insights|January 15, 2026

The European Commission’s newly presented Digital Omnibus Package signals a shift toward simplifying the EU’s digital regulatory framework.

The Digital Omnibus proposals put forth by the European Commission (see here and here) represent an important milestone in EU’s broader strategy for regulatory simplification. The proposals encompass a series of amendments to current digital legislation that constitute a step toward the objective of simplifying and enhancing the application of EU’s digital rulebook, as advocated by industry stakeholders. The aim is to promote innovation and facilitate regulatory compliance at a reduced cost, without undermining the fundamental goals of the legislation.

What is happening?

On 19 November 2025, the European Commission published a long-awaited Digital Package to simplify, streamline, and clarify EU’s digital legislation which has been introduced during the past years and caused an avalanche of new requirements for businesses operating within the EU market. Some of the requirements proposed to be modified are not yet even applicable (such as rules on high-risk artificial intelligence (AI) systems), while the update of some other provisions has been long overdue (such as rules on use of cookies and other tracking technologies). The Package seeks to address the concerns that have been raised by industry stakeholders on the effects of the legislation on the competitiveness of the EU area as well as recent developments on the global market and in case law. The Package consists of three main components:

1. Data Union Strategy, a communication that sets out EU’s plan to scale up access to data for AI, streamline data rules to give legal certainty to businesses and reduce compliance costs, and safeguard EU’s data sovereignty and strengthen its global position on international data flows;
2. European Business Wallets, a new EU-wide digital identity solution for businesses to reduce paperwork and make it easier to do business across EU Member States; and
3. Digital Omnibus, regulation proposals aimed at simplifying rules on AI and data to benefit businesses by unlocking opportunities in the use of data as a fundamental resource in the EU economy, particularly in supporting the development and use of AI solutions. In addition, revised incident reporting rules have been proposed to offer a single-entry point for businesses.

What are the key changes proposed in the Digital Omnibus?

The key amendments proposed by the Commission in the Digital Omnibus include the following:

How does this affect businesses?

The Digital Omnibus proposals are designed to achieve long-term cost savings for businesses. However, they may result in additional initial compliance costs for those companies that have been early adopters of the new digital rules and already established their compliance processes, for example, with respect to high-risk AI systems. As these processes may require revision upon the implementation of the new rules, businesses must temporarily wait with the revision measures until the proposals progress and the final form of the legislation becomes clearer.

In addition, while industry stakeholders have expressed enthusiasm regarding the EU’s approach to foster innovation and alleviate regulatory burdens, the extent of the Digital Omnibus’s impact remains a topic of discussion. The regulatory proposals, while comprehensive, focus on specific elements of the digital legislation that have faced criticism. For instance, there have been concerns regarding technological neutrality, as the Digital Omnibus specifically addresses data usage and legal frameworks for AI development, while not sufficiently addressing the development of other technologies that are also pertinent in the AI era. Moreover, rules for storing and accessing data on terminal equipment have been only addressed with respect to personal data leaving the use non-personal data subject to the earlier rules.

What’s next?

The Digital Omnibus proposals are currently open for feedback from stakeholders and will then be submitted to the European Parliament and the Council for adoption. This means that before their approval, the proposed regulations must go through extensive negotiations and the final legislation to be adopted may look different from the Commission’s proposals. We will continue to monitor the development and post updates on any major events.

The Commission has also launched a second phase of its simplification agenda through a comprehensive consultation open until 11 March 2026 to assess how the digital rulebook delivers on its competitiveness objectives and examine the coherence and cumulative impact of EU digital rules. The review of the digital acquis will thus continue through dialogues and evaluations of key legal instruments. According to the current plan, the Commission expects to publish reviews and conduct further evaluations between 2026 and 2029, which will extend to cover also other legislation, such as the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act.