NIS2 simplification package: where compliance becomes less paperwork
What the EU regulatory simplification package around NIS2 means for companies working with European partners or clients.
In early 2026, the European Commission announced a package of measures aimed at reducing the administrative burden under several regulatory acts, including NIS2. This is not a cancellation of requirements or a lowering of security standards - it is an attempt to remove the excess bureaucracy that accumulated during implementation.
For companies that either fall directly under NIS2 or work with European clients or partners in supply chains, this is worth examining carefully. Because "simplification" in a regulatory context can mean different things depending on where you are standing.
What changed and what stayed
NIS2 as a directive is not being cancelled. Requirements for cybersecurity risk management, incident notification, supply chain management, and management accountability all remain. The simplification package concerns something different: reporting forms, frequency of certain checks, thresholds for small and medium businesses, and harmonisation of requirements across EU member states.
This is an important nuance. A company that built NIS2 compliance substantively - doing real risk management rather than filling forms - will feel almost nothing. A company that built compliance formally will find that some forms have simplified, but the substance has not changed.
What "less paperwork" compliance actually means
There are a few concrete areas where the administrative burden is expected to decrease.
Incident reporting. The requirements for interim notifications are expected to be simplified - currently organisations must file multiple reports within strict time windows (24 hours, 72 hours, final report). The direction is toward a more flexible regime without losing substantive oversight.
Thresholds for small and medium businesses. Some requirements were clearly written with large organisations in mind. The package proposes clearer differentiation of obligations based on the size and criticality of the organisation.
Cross-country harmonisation. One of NIS2's main problems was different implementation across EU countries, creating double compliance burdens for companies operating in multiple jurisdictions. The package aims to align requirements.
What this does not affect
There are things that simplification does not touch and should not touch.
Management accountability. Directors and senior management retain personal responsibility for cybersecurity risk management. That stays.
Supply chain requirements. If your company is a supplier to organisations subject to NIS2, the requirements for you remain. Your European clients are still obliged to manage supplier risk.
Technical standards. Encryption, vulnerability management, incident response - the substantive technical requirements are unchanged.
Practical questions to check
If your company works with the European market or is part of European supply chains, it is worth reviewing a few things:
- Which NIS2 category do your European counterparties fall into - "important" or "essential" entities?
- What supplier requirements are they already imposing or planning to impose?
- Do your internal incident management processes actually meet notification requirements, or do they only exist as formal documents?
- Do you have a real dependency map in your supply chain, or does that also exist only on paper?
The simplification package is good news for those who spent too much time on bureaucracy. But it does not change the fundamental point: NIS2 compliance is a working risk management system, not an archive of completed forms.