European Commission advances Cybersecurity and AI action plan ahead of August AI Act enforcement

12:00 PM · July 14, 2026

The European Commission's AI Office has advanced a July action plan on Cybersecurity and AI, setting out a coordinated approach to help EU member states, businesses, and public authorities address the cybersecurity and resilience risks posed by the most advanced AI models. As part of the plan, the Commission will launch a call to expand the EU's evaluation capacity for AI models before they're placed on the EU market — third-party assessment infrastructure the Commission expects to be operational by 2027, strengthening the regulatory function of the AI Office itself. The Commission and the EU Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) will also jointly develop a blueprint for securing access to advanced AI systems used for cybersecurity purposes, and establish a secure testing platform letting organizations in critical sectors test and deploy AI solutions safely. The plan lands just weeks ahead of a significant compliance deadline: enforcement of the EU AI Act's high-risk system obligations begins August 2, 2026, with harmonized technical standards still in final drafting and expected to be completed by late 2026 — meaning the cybersecurity action plan and the Act's enforcement timeline are now moving in parallel.