The European Commission is considering pausing enforcement of targeted provisions of the AI Act amid pressure from large tech firms and the U.S. government, the Financial Times reported Friday, citing EU officials.
The reported pause would be folded into a Nov. 19 “simplification” package, with final scope still under discussion inside the Commission, according to the FT. An EU spokesperson told the paper the bloc remains “fully behind the AI Act and its objectives.”
As of today, the AI Act is in force and follows a staged timetable: core obligations began in 2025, most rules apply from Aug. 2, 2026, and certain embedded high-risk provisions extend to Aug. 2, 2027, the Commission and Parliament say.
In July, the Commission publicly rejected calls for a pause and said deadlines are legally binding, per a contemporaneous statement reported by Reuters.