A group of 46 leaders from Europe’s largest companies have signed an open letter calling on the European Commission to pause implementation of the Artificial Intelligence Act before key obligations enter into force.
The letter, signed by executives from Airbus, TotalEnergies, Lufthansa, ASML, Mistral, and dozens of other major firms across multiple industries, urges Brussels to impose a two-year “clock-stop” on the AI Act. The pause would apply to provisions on general-purpose AI that took effect on August 2 as well as systems classified as high-risk that must comply starting in August 2026.
Commission Weighs Delay
European Commission tech chief Henna Virkkunen told Politico this week she would decide by the end of August whether to pause implementation if the necessary standards and guidelines for applying the law are not ready in time. Her comments signalled growing uncertainty within the Commission about whether the regulatory framework is prepared for real-world enforcement.
The CEO letter argues that the current timeline creates legal and operational uncertainty for businesses trying to comply with rules whose technical standards have not yet been finalized. Several signatories warned that forcing compliance before guidelines exist would penalize companies that are making good-faith efforts to follow the law.
Industry Pushback Builds
The AI Act, which entered into force last year, is the EU’s flagship regulation for artificial intelligence. It establishes a risk-based framework that categorizes AI systems from minimal to unacceptable risk, with the strictest requirements imposed on high-risk applications in areas such as hiring, credit scoring, and law enforcement.
General-purpose AI models, including those powering chatbots and image generators, face transparency requirements that the signatories say cannot be meaningfully fulfilled without finalized technical standards. The letter calls the situation a “compliance paradox” where companies must follow rules they cannot yet fully interpret.
The pushback comes as Europe struggles to remain competitive in the global AI race against the United States and China. Lagarde, the European Central Bank president, warned separately that the EU must overcome market fragmentation or risk missing the AI train entirely. Underinvestment in AI has left Europe lagging behind both the US and China, according to a recent EU report.
Brussels faces a difficult balancing act between maintaining its regulatory leadership on AI and ensuring that the rules do not become a competitive disadvantage for European firms. Any delay would be politically contentious, as the AI Act was a centerpiece of the EU’s digital sovereignty agenda and took years of negotiation to finalize.
Sources: Politico; European Commission; Euronews
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