EU plans to pull back on digital regulations

The new policy package would streamline AI, data and cybersecurity rules for European businesses and defer EU AI Act enforcement by 16 months.

Dive Brief:

• The European Commission unveiled a set of regulatory changes to simplify the European Union’s digital rules on AI, cybersecurity and data in a Wednesday announcement. Officials described the current regulations as burdensome to businesses in a press release detailing the changes. 
• Some measures specifically target the EU AI Act, including pushing the timeline for rules governing high-risk systems to 16 months. The simplification measures are expected to save businesses up to 5 billion euros ($5.76 billion) in administrative costs by 2029, the release said. 
• “We have all the ingredients in the EU to succeed,” Henna Virkkunen, EVP for tech sovereignty, security and democracy at the commission, said in the release. “But our companies, especially our startups and small businesses, are often held ...