Examining how digital rules work together
The Fitness Check is the second stage of the Commission's effort to simplify EU digital regulation, following the Digital Omnibus. Conceived as a "stress-test" of the digital rulebook, it will examine how different rules interact and what their combined effects are on businesses, according to the Commission.
The Commission's progress report set out plans for its services to begin the review at the end of 2025, seek broad input and conclude midterm, potentially with additional simplification measures. The public consultation closed on March 11, 2026, as part of the digital simplification package presented at the end of 2025.
The effort draws on the 2024 Draghi report, which identified administrative burdens and inconsistent regulation, particularly in the digital sector, as contributing to the EU's competitiveness deficit.
Potential conflicts between interoperability and security
The Centre for European Policy (cep) wants the review to tackle structural conflicts within the EU's digital framework. It argues that technical requirements for interoperability under the Digital Markets Act can clash with obligations imposed by EU data-protection and cybersecurity rules.
Cep also points to a potential conflict between the Cyber Resilience Act's "security by design" requirement and the Digital Markets Act's mandate to open system-level interfaces to third parties.
The Omnibus and other assessments
The preceding Digital Omnibus, adopted by the Commission in November 2025, consists of two separate proposed regulations: one addressing data, cybersecurity and privacy, and another addressing artificial intelligence. The AI Omnibus entered into force on July 27, 2026.
The Fitness Check sits alongside assessments of individual parts of the digital framework. The Commission's progress report scheduled assessments for 2026 of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive, the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Decade Programme.
