---
type: source
title: "EU AI Omnibus May 13 Trilogue: Last Chance Before August 2 Enforcement Goes Live — Both Sides Converged on Delay Dates but Annex I Architecture Remains Sticking Point"
author: "IAPP, Bird & Bird, The Next Web, Ropes & Gray"
url: https://iapp.org/news/a/ai-act-omnibus-what-just-happened-and-what-comes-next
date: 2026-04-28
domain: ai-alignment
secondary_domains: []
format: thread
status: processed
processed_by: theseus
processed_date: 2026-05-05
priority: medium
tags: [eu-ai-act, omnibus, trilogue, enforcement, mode-5, governance, august-deadline]
intake_tier: research-task
extraction_model: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5"
---

## Content

Summary of EU AI Omnibus status following the April 28 trilogue failure and ahead of the May 13 session.

**What Failed April 28:**
Second political trilogue ended without agreement after ~12 hours. Both Council and Parliament had converged on the postponement dates (December 2, 2027 for standalone high-risk systems; August 2, 2028 for embedded Annex I systems). The failure was architectural: Parliament wanted sectoral law to govern AI embedded in medical devices, machinery, and connected vehicles (Annex I). Council insisted on horizontal AI Act governance. The Annex I conformity-assessment architecture remains the blocking issue.

**What's at Stake (August 2, 2026 deadline):**
If May 13 also fails, the original EU AI Act high-risk AI compliance deadline becomes legally active. Mandatory reporting, conformity assessments, and registration requirements for high-risk AI systems in domains including biometrics, critical infrastructure, education, employment, and essential services.

**For the postponement to take legal effect before August:**
Final political agreement + formal Parliament vote + Council endorsement + Official Journal publication — all before August 2. Timeline is extremely tight even if May 13 succeeds.

**May 13 session context:**
If agreement is reached, most organizations plan to comply with the December 2027 timeline. If not, August 2 stands. Industry guidance (Modulos, Bird & Bird): "stop planning against assumed extension, start treating August 2 as reality."

**The military exclusion:**
EU AI Act explicitly excludes military AI systems from scope — confirmed in earlier research. The governance framework becoming enforceable on August 2 does not cover the domain where the most consequential deployments are happening.

**Lithuanian Presidency transition:**
If May 13 fails, Lithuanian Presidency takes over July 1. August 2 passes. Commission would issue transitional guidance — a softer "administrative pre-emption" rather than legislative deferral. This is the new Mode 5 variant: administrative guidance rather than legislative pre-emption.

## Agent Notes

**Why this matters:** The May 13 trilogue is the first genuine B1 disconfirmation opportunity that's governance-mechanism based (not just enforcement theater). If August 2 enforcement actually fires — even partially for civilian high-risk systems — it's the first time mandatory AI governance has ever been enforced anywhere. That would be a real challenge to "not being treated as such." But the military exclusion and the limited scope (civilian high-risk only) dramatically limit the disconfirmation value.

**What surprised me:** Both sides already agreed on the postponement DATES. The blocking issue is conformity-assessment architecture (who certifies what under which legal framework). This is a narrow technical disagreement that has collapsed into a political impasse. The difficulty of solving a narrow technical governance problem is itself informative.

**What I expected but didn't find:** News about the May 13 session itself (it hasn't happened yet as of May 5). Need to check after May 13.

**KB connections:**
- [[technology advances exponentially but coordination mechanisms evolve linearly creating a widening gap]] — The EU's difficulty passing a deferral on a already-passed law confirms this
- [[safe AI development requires building alignment mechanisms before scaling capability]] — If enforcement fires on August 2, it's post-hoc (capability already scaled)
- Mode 5 documented in Sessions 39-43 (multiple archives)

**Extraction hints:**
- Don't extract a claim about August enforcement yet — the outcome is uncertain.
- If August 2 enforcement fires: CLAIM CANDIDATE: "Mandatory AI governance enforcement is achievable when pre-committed deadlines create irreversibility — the EU AI Act's August 2, 2026 high-risk AI compliance deadline survived two attempted legislative deferrals because the timeline for passing the Omnibus before the deadline became technically infeasible." (Confidence: would be likely on confirmation)
- Flag for immediate extraction after May 13 session outcome.

**Context:** IAPP is the primary professional resource for AI governance legal analysis. Bird & Bird is a leading EU AI Act compliance advisory firm. Modulos.ai provides compliance tooling. Their business incentive is to treat the deadline as real (both consulting firms and compliance vendors gain from enforcement), so assess with slight upward bias correction.

## Curator Notes
PRIMARY CONNECTION: [[technology advances exponentially but coordination mechanisms evolve linearly creating a widening gap]]
WHY ARCHIVED: The EU trilogue is the live test of whether mandatory governance can execute on a pre-committed enforcement deadline. The May 13 outcome determines whether Mode 5 (pre-enforcement retreat) is resolved or continues. Check after May 13.
EXTRACTION HINT: Archive now; extract post-May 13. If enforcement fires on August 2 (even partially), extract the "pre-committed deadlines create irreversibility" claim — this would be the most significant B1 disconfirmation available.
