Forthcoming Digital Omnibus would mark point of no return

Civil society and trade unions sound the alarm

For months, EDRi has warned of the serious threats that would be posed to people, planet and democracy by the proposed reopening of the EU’s digital rules. This is not happening in isolation: EDRi is part of a huge group of organisations warning against this broad dismantling of social, rights and environmental protections by the European Commission and other lawmakers.

Now, leaked documents reveal that – despite the Commission’s promises that the reform of the EU’s digital rulebook would not weaken core protections for people’s rights and freedoms – the reality is that this would be “the biggest rollback of digital fundamental rights in EU history”. Over a hundred civil society organisations, trade unions and defenders of the public interest have joined together to “urge the European Commission to immediately halt any attempts to reopen the GDPR, ePrivacy framework, AI Act or other core digital rights protections”.

Two Omnibuses, one deregulation agenda

On 19 November 2025, the Commission is set to propose two new digital laws: the Digital Omnibus, which will amend multiple existing laws in one go. These would be accompanied by a ‘digital fitness check’, an evaluation led by the European Commission that will assess the effectiveness of current EU consumer protection laws in the digital environment. The evaluation will lay out a future roadmap for even more digital deregulation – with dozens of other laws designed to ensure platform accountability and protection people online reportedly being considered for the chop.

In our submission to the Commission’s ‘call for evidence earlier in the autumn, EDRi warned against using non-democratic mechanisms to make drastic changes to privacy and data protection rules . Despite repeated commitments to protect fundamental rights, the Commission is proceeding with proposals that were never subject to transparent consultation and clearly “giving in to powerful corporate and state actors who oppose the principles of a fair, safe and democratic digital landscape and who want to lower the bar of EU laws for their own benefit”.

The cornerstones of human rights in the digital age – the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the ePrivacy framework – are set to be significantly weakened exposing all of us to abuses of our personal data and unchecked tracking online. And the AI Act, which hasn’t even fully come into force, would be stripped down of already inadequate protections, whilst vital provisions – like penalties – are delayed. All these steps would punish the companies that want legal certainty and to play by the EU’s rules, while rewarding those that want to ‘innovate’ with our rights, freedoms, and natural resources.

The Commission is on a chopping spree

This is not the first time that we have seen the EU’s digital laws being deregulated. Earlier in the year, the Commission tested the waters by proposing what they claimed was only small change to the GDPR. What is framed as ‘streamlining’ or ‘fitness checks’ is in fact part of a coordinated deregulatory project across the EU – digital, environmental, and social – that treats fundamental rights as bureaucratic burdens to be cut. We argued that this was opening the door to much bigger, and even more dangerous, changes.

Now, however, the Commission has not just opened the door to the watering down of our fundamental rights protections in the digital age. They have kicked the door off its hinges, signalling that when it comes to EU tech policy, hunting season is open. If the EU starts redefining rights as administrative burdens, it won’t just weaken its own laws: it will lose the political authority that once made its digital rule-book a global standard.

A call to defend Europe’s digital future

However, it’s not too late. Along with 126 civil society and union organisations, we urge the Commission to course-correct by halting the Digital Omnnibus plans. Collectively, we further urge them to respect the EU’s democratic mechanisms and to fight powerful actors who do not want to play by the EU’s rules. “The EU’s tech policy framework is the best defence we have against digital exploitation and surveillance by both domestic and foreign actors”, we warn.

Stay tuned to EDRi’s channels for updates and reactions when the official Digital Omnibus proposals are published which is expected to be on 19 November.