{"slug": "future-directions-and-developments-in-it-and-ip-law-in-light-of-the-digital", "title": "Future Directions and Developments in IT and IP Law in Light of the Digital Omnibus", "summary": "KU Leuven's Centre for IT & IP Law will host a conference on 10 December 2026 in Leuven to examine the risks and opportunities of the EU's Digital Omnibus proposal, which aims to simplify digital regulations across AI, data governance, and intellectual property. The event will bring together policymakers, industry experts, and academics to discuss impacts on democracy, digital sovereignty, AI fairness, and other themes, followed by a Digital Colloquium for junior researchers on 11 December.", "body_md": "# Future Directions and Developments in IT and IP Law in Light of the Digital Omnibus\n\nIn recent years, the European Union has developed a comprehensive and increasingly complex framework of ‘digital regulations’ that touches on online platforms, artificial intelligence, data governance, cybersecurity, intellectual property, digital markets, ... Presented in late 2025, the Digital Omnibus proposal and accompanying Digital Fitness Check mark a significant shift in the EU's regulatory strategy. Framed as an effort to simplify legislation, reduce administrative burdens, eliminate regulatory overlaps, and strengthen European competitiveness, the package proposes amendments across a wide range of legal instruments. Moving at a quicker pace, the AI Omnibus is set to bring notable changes to EU’s AI regulatory timeline as early as summer 2026. In the same vein, ongoing developments surrounding the Digital Omnibus Regulation equally hint at substantial changes to the existing regulatory landscape.\n\nWhile these reforms are intended to improve regulatory coherence and facilitate innovation, they also raise fundamental questions. How might simplification affect existing safeguards? What are the implications for the enforcement of digital rights, democratic oversight, and responsible innovation? Who stands to benefit from these reforms, and who may bear their costs? More broadly: what will 2027 bring?\n\nThis **conference**, hosted by KU Leuven's Centre for IT & IP Law (CiTiP) on **10 December 2026** in Leuven, seeks to engage with these questions by bringing together policymakers, industry experts, and academics to examine the risks and opportunities of the Digital Omnibus across the themes of **democracy, digital sovereignty, AI fairness, research and archiving, healthcare, children's rights, standardisation and automation, and intellectual property**.\n\nIn addition, CiTiP organises a **Digital Colloquium** for junior (doctoral) researchers on **11 December** in Leuven. During the event, researchers will be able to present their research and receive feedback from experts in the field. More info [here](https://www.law.kuleuven.be/citip/en/docs/hot-news/conferences/research-colloquium-on-law-and-emerging.pdf) on the call for abstracts for the Digital Colloquium.\n\nMore information on the program, conference panels, and registration will be published soon, but already block your agenda on 10 and 11 December 2026 for an event full of exchanges, insights and networking in Leuven.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/future-directions-and-developments-in-it-and-ip-law-in-light-of-the-digital", "canonical_source": "https://www.law.kuleuven.be/citip/en/news/item/future-directions-and-developments-in-it-and-ip-law-in-light-of-the-digital-omnibus", "published_at": "2026-06-16 13:41:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-24 00:52:56.999135+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy", "ai-ethics", "artificial-intelligence", "ai-safety", "ai-research"], "entities": ["European Union", "KU Leuven", "Centre for IT & IP Law", "Digital Omnibus", "AI Omnibus", "Digital Fitness Check"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/future-directions-and-developments-in-it-and-ip-law-in-light-of-the-digital", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/future-directions-and-developments-in-it-and-ip-law-in-light-of-the-digital.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/future-directions-and-developments-in-it-and-ip-law-in-light-of-the-digital.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/future-directions-and-developments-in-it-and-ip-law-in-light-of-the-digital.jsonld"}}