Tech Firms Press EU Commission to Back Digital Omnibus Bill

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5, 2025 — Europe’s tech sectors warned Thursday that EU governments risked stalling the bloc’s first major bid to simplify digital regulations as member states prepared for a Telecommunications Council meeting.

The warning came from the Computer & Communications Industry Association Europe, a Brussels-based tech industry group, urging national governments to back the European Commission’s Digital Omnibus proposal. The association called it the clearest effort to date to streamline a fragmented regulatory system.

EU digital policy is currently set through a mix of sector-specific laws including the Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act and the General Data Protection Regulation, along with additional nation-by-nation measures.

The result is a patchwork of rules that forces companies to navigate different compliance requirements across the 27-member bloc.

At a conference in Brussels, CCIA Europe said earlier simplification efforts collapsed under political disputes, competing national priorities, and inconsistent implementation across member states. The group specifically criticized national “gold-plating,” a practice in which individual governments add stricter requirements on top of EU laws, complicating compliance for global firms.

The association stressed that the new Omnibus was only an initial step and said neither Member States nor the European Parliament could dismiss the Commission’s limited set of fixes without worsening the EU’s competitiveness outlook.

“The future of Europe’s digital competitiveness is now in the hands of Member States and the European Parliament,” said Daniel Friedlaender, CCIA Europe’s senior vice president and head of office. He said the Omnibus must avoid being “dead on arrival” and be delivered on time to give companies basic legal clarity.

Friedlaender also pressed lawmakers to move quickly on the AI-specific Omnibus, a single bill that amends multiple EU digital laws at once. He said its simplification measures, including a delay of up to 16 months for certain AI Act compliance duties, must take effect before the EU’s high-risk system rules begin in August 2026.

Those high-risk provisions apply to AI used in sensitive areas such as hiring, credit scoring, public benefits and law enforcement. The EU treats these applications as requiring stricter testing, documentation and oversight to limit discrimination and safety risks.

CCIA Europe called the EU’s current digital rulebook ‘complex’ and said the Digital Omnibus is necessary to restore legal clarity for companies. This push is amidst broader competition with firms in the United States and Asia.