TL;DR:

  • A group of ten EU member states — Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Romania and Latvia — has formally opposed a Parliament-led proposal to shift industrial AI products out of the main AI Act framework into sector-specific law.
  • Germany is the most vocal supporter of the shift, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz and digital minister Karsten Wildberger backing the push at the Hannover Messe industry fair this weekend. Siemens and Bosch are the principal corporate beneficiaries.
  • EU ambassadors meet today to find a compromise, with European Parliament, Council and Commission negotiators scheduled to close a final deal next Tuesday.

The shift being proposed would move a wide range of AI applications — machinery, medical devices, toys and more — out of the AI Act’s horizontal framework and into sectoral legislation instead. Advocates frame this as removing “double regulation”; opponents describe it as “deregulation, not simplification”. The dividing line, captured in a Council document dated 15 April and published commentary from Social Democrat lead negotiator Brando Benifei, turns on whether sectoral rules can genuinely replicate the AI Act’s risk-management provisions.

Where Germany’s argument stands

Germany’s position, co-signed by several industry lobby groups including Orgalim and Digital Europe, is that products “already covered by sector-specific legislation would face a double burden” under the AI Act. Siemens has publicly complained that the dual-regulation issue “remains untouched”. Merz said Sunday he backed the industrial exemption, and Wildberger argued the existing proposals “didn’t go far enough”. The stance is unusually assertive for Germany on a file typically led through quiet consensus.

Why this matters for UK businesses trading into Europe

The UK is outside the EU AI Act’s direct scope, but the regulation governs any AI system placed on the EU market, including by UK exporters. If sectoral shift succeeds, UK firms supplying AI-enabled industrial machinery into Europe gain simplified compliance — with primary regulation under existing Machinery Regulation rules rather than overlapping AI Act provisions. If the ten-country opposition prevails, UK exporters face continued dual-compliance obligations and will need to maintain AI Act notified-body engagement alongside sector certifications. The procedural outcome from Wednesday will materially affect export-compliance cost forecasts for UK industrial AI suppliers.

Looking forward

German Green MEP Sergey Lagodinsky’s characterisation of Germany’s proposal as “lonely” signals the political reality going into next Tuesday’s final negotiation. The ten-country letter is enough to block a qualified-majority Council adoption of the full Parliament proposal, forcing compromise. Expect the final deal to include some sectoral-shift elements for the clearest cases — machinery covered by equivalent rules — while maintaining AI Act primacy for medical devices and higher-risk categories. UK exporters should plan for a two-tier outcome in 2026 rather than the wholesale simplification Germany has been pushing for.

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