The View from Brussels #26

News, Publications and Consultations from the Past Week

News CW 30 (20/07/2026 – 26/07/2026)

AI: The European Commission has published guidelines on transparency obligations for providers and operators of certain AI systems, which supplement the practical guide on the transparency of AI-generated content. The transparency obligations set out in Article 50 of the AI Act will apply from 02/08/2026.

AI: Before the end of the year, the European Council will discuss the development and safety of AI. Three EU summits are scheduled to take place this year: on 15/10/2026, 13/11/2026 and 17/12/2026.

Social media: The French Parliament has passed a law prohibiting children under the age of 15 from using social media. From 01/09/2026, platforms will be obliged to introduce age verification tools. To ensure the ban complies with EU law, oversight of key aspects of its implementation has been transferred to the European Commission.

Chat monitoring: The ambassadors of the Member States have agreed to the European Parliament’s text, which excludes end-to-end encrypted communication from the scope of the legislation. This means that the law, which allows voluntary chat monitoring on a transitional basis until April 2028, can come into force shortly (following its formal publication in the Official Journal).

Age verification: The European Commission has determined that the citizens’ initiative “Stop Killing the Internet: No Digital ID and No Age Verification” meets the formal requirements. The organisers now have six months to launch the twelve-month signature collection period.

Selected publications by the EP Think Tank

Ongoing relevant consultations by the European Commission

EU Centre for Critical Raw Materials (until 29/07/2026)
Cybercrime – Negotiation of procedural rules and the draft protocol to the United Nations Convention on Cybercrime (until 29/07/2026)
Schengen Information System – Amendment to the list of items that may be the subject of an alert (Delegated Regulation) (until 29/07/2026)
EU rules on multimodal digital mobility services and standardised digital booking and ticketing services (until 31/07/2026)
Biotechnology Act (until 05/08/2026)
Hazardous substances – Exemption for lead and cadmium in certain electrical and electronic equipment (until 05/08/2026)
Police cooperation – EU rules on the automated retrieval and exchange of biometric data with non-EU countries (until 07/08/2026)
Rules on the screening of foreign direct investment – update of the list of projects and programmes of Union interest (until 13/08/2026)
Digital Networks Act (until 30/08/2026)
AI Continent – New Legislation on Cloud and AI Development (until 30/08/2026)
Chips Act 2 (by 30/08/2026)
The union’s position for the World Radiocommunication Conference 2027 (by 11/09/2026)
Markets for crypto-assets: evaluation of the EU legal framework (until 30/09/2026)
Export controls on dual-use goods – Evaluation of the Dual-Use Regulation (until 15/10/2026)
Horizon Europe – European Partnerships to be implemented as joint companies (until 16/10/2026)

Highlights from the current CW, CW 31 (27/07/2026 – 02/08/2026)

Council:

You can find the latest outlook on the Council’s work for the coming days up to 02/08/2026 here.

Summits and Ministerial Meetings:

There are no Council meetings relevant to the Internet industry taking place this week.

You can find an overview of the Council’s various meetings here.

Commission:

The agenda for the current Commission meeting was not available at the time of going to press. You may be able to find it at short notice on the Commission’s website.