The April 28 session ended without a deal. European Union member states and European Parliament negotiators met for twelve hours and failed to reach agreement on the Digital AI Omnibus proposal, which would have deferred Annex III high-risk compliance obligations beyond the August 2, 2026 effective date, according to Reuters and confirmed by the International Association of Privacy Professionals. A follow-up trilogue is now scheduled for May 13, according to DLA Piper’s knowledge platform.
That date matters more than most policy calendars. May 13 is not a soft deadline. The August 2 compliance date is binding law, it does not require a further implementing act or Official Journal entry to take effect. If May 13 produces no agreement, the window for any Omnibus amendment to clear EU procedural requirements before August 2 closes in practical terms. Compliance teams that have been waiting for the political picture to stabilize need to treat May 13 as the last point where that picture changes.
What broke the April 28 session
The stalemate reportedly centered on how extension deadlines would be structured. According to legal analysis from Morrison Foerster, the European Parliament has been pressing for fixed Annex III deadlines, December 2027, rather than conditionality-linked application. The Council’s position, which would have tied the extension to implementation milestones, did not satisfy Parliament negotiators. That gap, not a disagreement about whether to extend, is what reportedly blocked agreement.
This is a meaningful distinction for compliance planning. A fixed December 2027 deadline is plannable. A conditional extension, one that requires demonstrating compliance milestones to unlock deferred obligations, is not a deadline at all. It is a performance test. If the EP position ultimately prevails in a May 13 agreement, Annex III deployers would face a firm replacement date. If the Council position prevails, the compliance requirement shifts from calendar management to milestone management, which is a different program design entirely.
What Annex III deployers should be doing right now
The twelve days between today and May 13 are not a waiting period. They are a planning window that closes regardless of outcome. Three things should be on the immediate agenda for any organization subject to Annex III obligations, AI systems used in HR, education, biometric identification, and several other high-risk categories.
First, document what you have. The EU AI Act’s Annex III obligations include conformity assessments, technical documentation, and registration requirements. An organization that has not yet inventoried its Annex III-covered systems cannot know its compliance gap, and cannot act intelligently on whatever May 13 produces.
Second, do not assume the extension passes. If May 13 fails, August 2 is the operative date. Build your compliance program for August 2 and let any extension operate as a gift, not a dependency.
Third, understand what a conditional extension would require. If the Council’s milestone-based approach carries the day, the extension is not relief, it is a new obligation structure. Organizations that plan only for the calendar deadline may find themselves unprepared for a milestone regime.
If May 13 also fails
A third failed session would leave August 2 as the confirmed enforcement date with no further legislative vehicle available in the near term. The European Parliament’s fixed-deadline position would become moot. Compliance programs built on extension assumptions would face immediate gap exposure. There is no legal mechanism for the Commission to unilaterally defer Annex III applicability absent an Official Journal amendment.
The non-obvious implication worth sitting with: the EP’s insistence on fixed rather than conditional deadlines reflects a concern that a milestone-based extension would effectively give member states the power to delay enforcement indefinitely by managing their own certification timelines, which raises the question of whether your compliance program is designed to survive a political agreement that makes the deadline harder to move, not easier.