Regulatory change is moving at different speeds across Europe and Latin America. Some deadlines are changing, others are fast approaching. Here are five updates for staffing firms, employers of record, MSPs, RPOs and VMS platforms to watch.

1. THE EU AI ACT: A POLITICAL AGREEMENT TO DELAY, BUT NOT YET LAW

After negotiations nearly collapsed at the end of April, EU lawmakers reached a provisional political agreement postpone the most onerous obligations of the AI Act. Under the deal, compliance for stand-alone high-risk AI systems under Annex III, which covers AI tools used for recruitment, candidate selection, performance evaluation, task allocation and worker monitoring, moves from 2 August 2026 to 2 December 2027. AI embedded in regulated products under Annex I shifts to 2 August 2028.

This is still a political agreement, not law. The final legislative text has not been adopted, and it must be formally endorsed by both the Council and the European Parliament. Until that happens, the original 2 August 2026 deadline technically remains on the books.

For staffing businesses, this offers breathing room on high-risk obligations, but not a reason to pause implementation. Compliance programmes take time to build, and firms using AI-driven sourcing, screening, matching or worker-management tools still face risks around bias, candidate and worker transparency, audit readiness and contractual exposure with clients. The prudent course is to keep building the governance, testing and oversight needed to be ready when the rules apply.

2. EU PAY TRANSPARENCY DIRECTIVE: A DEADLINE MOST MEMBER STATES WILL MISS

The 7 June 2026 transposition deadline for the Pay Transparency Directive into national law is weeks away, but implementation across the bloc remains uneven. Lithuania, Slovakia, Malta and Poland are on track, while Germany is leaning towards staged application from 2027, the Netherlands is trying to delay it until 1 January 2027, Estonia has suggested it may prefer an infringement fine to rushed implementation, and Sweden has said it will seek renegotiation at EU level.

This creates legal uncertainty across the EU, but the direction of travel is certain. Once implemented nationally, employers will need to disclose salary ranges in job adverts or before interview, stop asking salary history questions, respond to employee requests for comparative pay information, and prepare for a shifted burden of proof where transparency obligations are missed. Most EORs, as formal employers, are expected to take on these obligations. A single EU-wide policy may not work.

3. EU PLATFORM WORK DIRECTIVE: THE QUIETER DECEMBER DEADLINE

Directive (EU) 2024/2831 on platform work must be transposed into local law by member states by 2 December 2026, and its reach goes well beyond food delivery and ride-hail apps. The Directive introduces a presumption of employment for platform workers where direction and control exist, requires algorithmic management transparency, mandates human oversight of decisions to restrict, suspend or terminate a worker's account, and obliges platforms to declare platform work to national authorities.

For VMS platforms, MSPs running technology-mediated contingent worker pools, and EOR or staffing firms whose models may qualify as digital labour platforms, this is a real expansion of obligations. The risk is especially relevant where algorithmic matching, scoring or routing is used to organise or allocate work. The algorithmic management rules apply to all platform workers, not just those whose status is contested. Member states will set their own penalties, but the framework requires them to be dissuasive.

4. BRAZIL: THE SUPREME COURT'S PENDING "PEJOTIZAÇÃO" RULING AND NR-1

Brazil's Federal Supreme Court (STF) has suspended all lawsuits nationwide involving independent contractor and "PJ" arrangements since April 2025, pending a binding decision on the legality of "pejotização", the practice of engaging individuals as contractors rather than employees. A ruling is still expected in 2026. Depending on its scope, it could change the cost model and contracting structure used by staffing firms, AORs and global capability centres operating in Brazil.

Alongside this, the revised Regulatory Standard No. 1 (NR-1) takes effect on 26 May 2026. It requires all employers, including EORs acting as the legal employer, to incorporate psychosocial risk factors such as harassment, burnout and excessive workload into their mandatory Risk Management Programme. Brazil's Ministry of Labor has also authorised 855 new labour inspectors, which points to stronger enforcement.

5. COLOMBIA'S LAW 2466: PHASE TWO KICKS IN

Colombia's labour reform (Law 2466 of 2025) continues its phased rollout in 2026, with cost implications for any staffing firm operating in 24/7 industries such as security, BPO, healthcare and logistics. The surcharge for Sunday and holiday work rises from 80% to 90% in 2026, and to 100% in 2027. The night-shift surcharge now applies from 7:00 p.m. rather than 9:00 p.m. Employers must formally document overtime and provide detailed reports to workers. New paid leaves for medical appointments and children's school commitments have been introduced, and the apprenticeship model has been formalised with a heavier financial obligation on employers.

The changes raise direct labour costs, and they also raise administrative and compliance overhead, where misconfigured payroll setups can turn into litigation risk.

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