Over 40 civil society organisations sign open letter urging EU institutions to reject the AI Omnibus and safeguard the AI Act

A large group of civil society organisations and experts has signed an open letter asking EU institutions to reject the AI Omnibus. It is addressed to Members of the European Parliament, the Cypriot Presidency of the Council and Member State representatives, as three-way negotiations on the proposal are about to start. Signatories include Access Now, AlgorithmWatch, ARTICLE 19, European Digital Rights and Panoptykon Foundation.

The signatories object to both the process and the content. On process, they say the Commission's text goes well past technical changes, with no impact assessment, no proper review and no adequate public consultation, contrary to its own Better Regulation commitments. On content, they argue it weakens the AI Act and leaves people without timely protection from high-risk systems such as biometric identification or AI in schools. They recall that over 133 organisations and experts had earlier urged the Commission not to reopen the Act.

Specific concerns follow. The Commission wanted to delete the Article 49(2) transparency safeguard; Parliament and Council restored database registration for high-risk systems, including those self-assessed as not high risk, yet still omit readily available details such as the countries of placement and the reason for self-exemption. The letter says all three institutions curb the ability of fundamental rights bodies to request documents from companies and public bodies. It also criticises Parliament's Annex I changes, which would add thirteen delegated acts and lower the baseline for high-risk medical AI.

The letter ends by calling on all three institutions to reject the proposal on procedure and substance, while offering continued dialogue.