AI policy updates, July 2026

EU Digital Omnibus on AI enters into force, moving high-risk AI Act duties to December 2027 and August 2028

Regulation (EU) 2026/1744, published in the Official Journal on 24 July 2026, entered into force on 27 July 2026. It amends Article 113 of the AI Act so that the Chapter III high-risk obligations apply from 2 December 2027 for stand-alone Annex III systems and from 2 August 2028 for AI embedded in Annex I products, adds two Article 5 prohibitions applying from 2 December 2026, and leaves the 2 August 2026 general application and Article 50 transparency dates in place. Recorded from concordant secondary reporting; confirm against the Official Journal text.

Practical impact: Re-plan high-risk conformity work to the December 2027 and August 2028 dates; transparency duties under Article 50 still applied from 2 August 2026.

Second AI Basic Plan adopted by Cabinet decision

Milestone recorded for Artificial Intelligence Basic Plan (Japan): Second AI Basic Plan adopted by Cabinet decision. Recorded from the official source listed.

Ministry of Digital begins engagement and public consultation on the AI Governance Bill

Milestone recorded for Artificial Intelligence (Malaysia): Ministry of Digital begins engagement and public consultation on the AI Governance Bill. Recorded from the official source listed.

Illinois enacts the AI Safety Measures Act (SB 315) on frontier-model safety and transparency

SB 315 became Public Act 104-0538. Large frontier developers must publish a frontier AI framework and transparency reports, report critical safety incidents to the state, protect whistleblowers and, from 2028, commission annual independent third-party audits. Recorded from search extracts of the ILGA bill status page.

Practical impact: Large frontier developers should map their California SB 53 framework to Illinois's audit requirement.