AIG Newsletter 26 October 2026

CONTENT:

• NEWS
  • COUNCIL AGREES POSITION ON THE DIGITAL OMNIBUS
  • COMMISSION OPENS FEEDBACK PERIOD ON EU KIDS ACT
    
  • PARLIAMENT QUESTIONS COMMISSION ON EU COMPETITION POLICY
  • EPP, S&D, RENEW AND GREENS/EFA RE-ELECT GROUP LEADERS
  • VON DER LEYEN ANNOUNCES SIMPLIFICATION MEASURES AND STRONGER ECONOMIC-SECURITY TOOLS
  • IMCO DISCUSSES FUTURE EUROPEAN PRODUCT ACT WITH STAKEHOLDERS
• DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
  

NEWS

In this week's edition: EU ambassadors agree the Council's negotiating mandate on the Digital Omnibus, including a new consent exemption for contextual advertising measurement. The Commission opens a feedback period on the proposed EU KIDS Act. MEPs question Executive Vice-President Ribera on the revised merger guidelines and DMA enforcement. The EPP, S&D, Renew Europe and Greens/EFA re-elect their group leaders, while President von der Leyen sets out new simplification and economic-security measures. Finally, IMCO holds a hearing with stakeholders on the forthcoming European Product Act.

COUNCIL AGREES POSITION ON THE DIGITAL OMNIBUS

On 21 October, EU ambassadors agreed the Council's negotiating mandate on the data part of the Digital Omnibus, which amends the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive. Reversing the Commission's proposal, the Council keeps cookie rules in the ePrivacy Directive rather than moving them into the GDPR, and drops the requirement to honour browser-based consent signals. Of particular note for advertising, the mandate adds a consent exemption for measuring the display and performance of contextual advertising, including frequency capping, provided data are pseudonymised and not used for profiling or programmatic advertising. It also cuts the period before a user can be asked again for consent after a refusal from six months to four, and retains the Commission's narrower, entity-relative definition of personal data. The European Parliament has yet to adopt its position, after which trilogue negotiations can begin.

COMMISSION OPENS FEEDBACK PERIOD ON EU KIDS ACT

The Commission opened a feedback period on the proposed Regulation for an EU KIDS Act, inviting contributions from children, parents, educators and online platforms covered by the proposal. Adopted on 17 September, the proposal would introduce an EU-wide social media delay, safety-by-design requirements, privacy-preserving age assurance and stronger enforcement, making it a major new part of the EU's online child-safety framework. The feedback window is open until 3 December 2026 and is accessible through this link.

PARLIAMENT QUESTIONS COMMISSION ON EU COMPETITION POLICY

During the European Parliament plenary session on 20 October, MEPs questioned Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera on the forthcoming revised merger guidelines, particularly how they will balance European scale-ups and industrial competitiveness with innovation, consumer protection and the prevention of killer acquisitions. Ribera said the guidelines, expected by the end of 2026, will give greater clarity on resilience, innovation, future efficiencies and evidence requirements, while allowing earlier engagement between companies and DG COMP. MEPs also pressed the Commission on DMA enforcement, including Google, with Ribera confirming that proposals from the company are still being assessed and that structural remedies could be considered if other measures prove insufficient.

EPP, S&D, RENEW AND GREENS/EFA RE-ELECT GROUP LEADERS

Four political groups in the European Parliament have re-elected their leaders. The EPP re-elected Manfred Weber (Germany) as Chairman, the S&D re-elected Iratxe García Pérez (Spain) as President, and Renew Europe re-elected Valérie Hayer (France) as President. On 6 October, the Greens/EFA re-elected Terry Reintke (Germany) as Co-President and elected Nicolae Ștefănuță (Romania) as her new Co-President.

VON DER LEYEN ANNOUNCES SIMPLIFICATION MEASURES AND STRONGER ECONOMIC-SECURITY TOOLS

On 21 October, during Parliament's debate on the October European Council, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced further simplification measures. These include a pact against national gold-plating of EU rules and an AI-supported "Only Once" principle, so that businesses report the same information only once. She also outlined new economic-security tools: a DiversifyEU package in December to reduce concentrated supply-chain dependencies, and an instrument allowing faster restrictions on Single Market access when EU interests are threatened.

IMCO DISCUSSES FUTURE EUROPEAN PRODUCT ACT WITH STAKEHOLDERS

The IMCO Committee held a hearing on the forthcoming European Product Act, with the Commission, BEUC, Ecommerce Europe, RREUSE, CEN-CENELEC, Back Market and Orgalim discussing how to modernise EU product rules, strengthen market surveillance and address non-compliant e-commerce imports. The Commission said the Act should ensure that imported products have an identifiable EU-based responsible operator, improve cooperation between customs and market-surveillance authorities and make greater use of interoperable digital tools and the Digital Product Passport. BEUC pushed for stronger marketplace accountability and EU-level enforcement powers, while Ecommerce Europe warned against disproportionate liability for compliant platforms and stressed that weak enforcement is often a bigger problem than a lack of rules. RREUSE and Back Market called for clearer rules for repair, reuse and refurbishment, while CEN-CENELEC and Orgalim argued for improving rather than replacing the existing European standardisation framework.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

27 October: European Competition Day, the high-level conference organised by each EU Presidency, brings together Member States representatives, academics and industry experts to discuss current challenges and future direction of competition policy.

16–17 November: Google Cloud's Sovereign AI Summit brings together senior executives, public sector technology leaders, EU policymakers and sovereignty experts to share experience of implementing digital sovereignty.

17–18 November: The 2026 European Business Summit discusses how can Europe strengthen its resilience, competitiveness and capacity to act in a world defined by fragmentation, geopolitical pressure and technological disruption?

17 November: The 10th anniversary edition of the EDAA Summit in Brussels will feature a keynote from Michael McGrath, Commissioner for Democracy, Justice and Consumer Protection.

18–19 November: IAPP Congress 2026, the leading conference for privacy, AI governance and cybersecurity professionals, offers insight into the latest developments in data protection regulation and practice in Europe and beyond.

1 December: DIGITALEUROPE's Digital Skills Summit brings together policymakers, industry leaders, educators, workforce actors and innovation ecosystems to discuss how Europe can strengthen its skills base, accelerate digital transformation and close the gap between policy ambition and operational implementation.