Back to School: What’s Next in EU Tech Policy

Your guide to key developments this autumn 

Platform & Consumer Policy 

Protection of minors: The European Parliament’s Internal Market Committee is progressing an own-initiative report on protecting minors online, focusing on combating addictive algorithms, manipulative design, and exploitative marketing targeted at children. Amendments will be considered in early and late September, with a committee vote on 16 October and Plenary vote in November, continuing political negotiations through autumn. 

Digital Services Act: The European Commission will publish a comprehensive study in November 2025 analyzing how the Digital Services Act (DSA) interacts with existing EU digital laws, focusing on enhancing age verification, privacy safeguards, and child protection measures to inform future adjustments and legislative strategies within the EU’s digital regulatory framework. 

Digital Fairness Act: The public consultation deadline has been extended to 24 October 2025, providing an additional opportunity for stakeholders to give feedback on measures addressing unfair digital practices such as dark patterns and addictive online features, to ensure safer and fairer digital environments for all users, especially minors. 

Digital Markets Act: The European Commission’s public consultation, open until 24 September 2025, seeks input on the effectiveness of current rules regulating gatekeeper platforms, including the designation process and the impact on core platform services, especially with the rise of AI, with a final Commission report due by May 2026.  

Data Protection & Privacy 

Digital Omnibus: Expected in December 2025, the Digital Omnibus is an upcoming EU simplification package intended to harmonise and digitise regulatory requirements, streamline reporting, and reduce bureaucratic burdens for businesses across cybersecurity, data, connectivity, and artificial intelligence (AI) within the Single Market. 

GDPR Simplification: Discussions are underway on a possible GDPR review by the end of 2025 aimed at simplifying compliance, particularly for small and midsize companies, while preserving strong data protection rights. The goal is to reduce administrative burdens such as recordkeeping without weakening privacy safeguards. 

GDPR Procedural Regulation: The GDPR Procedural Regulation, agreed upon by the Council and European Parliament in June 2025, harmonises enforcement procedures for cross-border cases by national data protection authorities. It establishes clear rules for complaint admissibility, parties’ rights to be heard, and cooperation between authorities, aiming to expedite investigations and ensure consistent GDPR application across the EU. The European Parliament is expected to vote on the final text in October 2025. 

AI & Cloud Policy 

AI Act: GPAI rules became legally applicable on 2 August, with the Commission gaining full enforcement powers on 2 August 2026. Calls for applications to the scientific panel and advisory forum close on September 14. The Commission will publish a report on AIA/DSA overlaps by 17 November 2025. 

Apply AI Strategy: Now due on October 7, this initiative aims to accelerate AI adoption across strategic European industrial sectors with solutions developed in Europe. 

AI & Copyright: The European Parliament is working on an own-initiative report led by Axel Voss to tackle copyright, privacy, and nondiscrimination challenges posed by fast-evolving digital technologies, with negotiations between political groups set to continue throughout autumn. 

Cloud & AI Development Act: Due in the first half of 2026, the measure aims to expand Europe's computing infrastructure to incubate frontier technology and bolster digital sovereignty. Preparatory work is underway. 

E-commerce & Travel Tech 

Customs: The reform of the Union Customs Code (UCC) has entered trilogues following the adoption of the Council's partial general approach. Many technical details, such as the handling fee, will be defined later through delegated acts. This means that the adoption of the UCC regulation, possibly by year’s end, will only be the start of a complex implementation phase. 

Passenger Rights: The Passenger Rights Package, including the Package Travel Directive and the Regulation on Enforcement of Passenger Rights, is in trilogues and expected to be adopted by year’s -end. A consultation is also open on revising the Air Services Regulation, with adoption due in the second quarter of 2026.  

MDMS: The European Commission plans to adopt the Multimodal Digital Mobility Services (MDMS) proposal by late 2025, aiming to regulate multimodal ticketing platforms, introduce obligations for fair access and commercial agreements, and ensure smaller operators can join larger platforms. Preparatory work, including new technical studies and stakeholder workshops, has begun to inform its final design. 

EU Delivery Act: The EU Delivery Act, set for a legislative proposal in late 2026, aims to modernize postal and parcel delivery rules to include e-commerce parcels under universal service obligations, improve service quality, fair competition, and employment conditions, while supporting sustainability and digital innovation in the postal sector. Although the official proposal is planned for 2026, preparatory work began in 2025 to ensure a smooth transition from the current Postal Services Directive.  

Cybersecurity & Digital Infrastructure 

Cybersecurity Act 2: The European Commission is expected to table the Cybersecurity Act review by the end of 2025. The review aims to unlock certification processes, such as the stalled EU Cloud Scheme, by deciding how to handle sovereignty clauses.  

EU Cybersecurity Reserve: The Cyber Solidarity Act's Reserve is to be established by the end of 2025 under ENISA, utilising pre-procured "trusted" incident-response providers selected based on security criteria, including ownership-control checks that favour EU control.  

EU Digital Identity: The European Commission is pushing for implementing acts at high speed. This ensures that companies maintain ongoing technical dialogue with DG CONNECT to facilitate the rollout of the EUDI Wallet, with at least one wallet per member state to be implemented by the end of 2026 and mandatory acceptance for many regulated sectors by 2027. 

Digital Networks Act: Expected to be proposed in late 2025, it aims to harmonise and modernize telecom rules, accelerate the rollout of high-speed digital networks like fibre and 5G/6G, strengthen cybersecurity, and address fair cost-sharing between operators and large content providers to create a secure and competitive Digital Single Market.