Last November, the European Commission presented the Digital Omnibus, a legislative initiative aimed at making the Union’s digital regulatory framework simpler and more functional. The dossier comes in a context marked by growing attention to competitiveness and by the awareness that, alongside security objectives, the layering of rules can translate into costly and burdensome complexity for businesses, particularly SMEs.
The proposal does not introduce a new regulatory framework. Rather, it makes targeted amendments to existing legislation in order to reduce fragmentation and overlaps between rules on data, privacy, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and information sharing. In this respect, the Digital Omnibus is built around a coordinated review of key instruments, including the GDPR, the ePrivacy Directive, the Data Act and NIS2. Its objective is to simplify the obligations set out in the current legislative framework and strengthen the overall coherence of the EU digital regulation, including through better coordination of notification and reporting requirements.
Among the most relevant elements are the postponement of certain AI Act obligations, the introduction of more proportionate requirements under the Cyber Resilience Act, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises, and the creation of a single reporting point at ENISA for certain obligations provided for under EU digital legislation. These measures are accompanied by stronger coordination between European authorities and instruments, with a view to building a more coherent and predictable framework.
The Digital Omnibus is currently being examined by the European co-legislators. A first step took place on 13 March 2026, when the Council of the EU adopted its position on the related proposal concerning artificial intelligence. In the coming months, discussions with the European Parliament are expected to intensify. Much will depend on the outcome of the negotiations and on the proposal’s ability to turn simplification into tangible benefits for businesses, especially SMEs.
For further information, Unioncamere’s Position Paper on the proposal for a regulation on the simplification of digital legislation is available.