The Spanish AI Supervision Agency, created by Royal Decree 729/2023 and based in A Coruña. It supervises AI systems, runs the national sandbox and is Spain's market-surveillance authority under the EU AI Act.

Country · Europe

AI regulation in Spain

Source-linked · checked 11 Sep 2026 3 instruments · 3 binding

Overview

Spain created the first dedicated national AI supervisory agency in the EU, AESIA, by Royal Decree 729/2023, and ran the first AI Act regulatory sandbox under Royal Decree 817/2023. The government approved a draft law on the good use and governance of AI in March 2025 to implement the AI Act nationally (authorities, penalties, mandatory labelling of AI-generated content), and the 2024 AI Strategy funds compute, language models in Spanish and co-official languages, and public-sector adoption.

What is the current regulatory status?

EU AI Act applies; AESIA operational; national implementation bill proposed (2025); AI Strategy 2024 as policy.

Binding rules versus guidance

Binding: Royal Decree 729/2023 (AESIA statute); Royal Decree 817/2023 (AI regulatory sandbox); Draft law on good use and governance of AI. Strategy or guidance: none recorded.

Key policy instruments

Spain Bill Proposed Binding

Draft law on good use and governance of AI

Anteproyecto de Ley para el buen uso y la gobernanza de la inteligencia artificial

The draft implements the EU AI Act in Spain: it allocates supervision among AESIA, the data-protection authority, the electoral board, the financial and audiovisual regulators, sets the national penalty scale (up to EUR 35 million or 7% of turnover for prohibited practices), treats failure to label AI-generated content as a serious infringement and provides for the national sandbox to continue.

Source-linked · checked 11 Sep 2026 Official source

Spain Regulation In force Binding

Royal Decree 729/2023 (AESIA statute)

Real Decreto 729/2023, de 22 de agosto, por el que se aprueba el Estatuto de la Agencia Española de Supervisión de Inteligencia Artificial

Creates and organises AESIA, the Spanish AI Supervision Agency, as a public body attached to the Ministry for Digital Transformation. AESIA supervises and inspects AI systems, promotes sandboxes and standards, and acts as national authority for the EU AI Act. The decree sets its governance, functions and funding.

In force 3 Sep 2023 Source-linked · checked 11 Sep 2026 Official source

Spain Regulation In force Binding

Royal Decree 817/2023 (AI regulatory sandbox)

Real Decreto 817/2023, de 8 de noviembre, que establece un entorno controlado de pruebas para el ensayo del cumplimiento de la propuesta de Reglamento de IA

Establishes Spain's controlled testing environment (sandbox) for providers of high-risk AI systems to test compliance with the then-proposed EU AI Act requirements: risk management, data governance, documentation, transparency, human oversight, accuracy and robustness. Participation is voluntary; participants receive guidance and produce documentation that feeds into national implementation.

In force 10 Nov 2023 Source-linked · checked 11 Sep 2026 Official source

Upcoming deadlines

No scheduled future dates recorded. Past milestones are listed on each policy page.

Current priorities

Passing the AI governance bill, AESIA supervision, the sandbox, Spanish-language foundation models and supercomputing.

Latest changes

11 Mar 2025 Spain High Proposed

Spain approves a draft law implementing the EU AI Act with mandatory AI-content labelling

Draft law on good use and governance of AI AESIA Source-linked

Applicable sectors, use cases and obligation areas

Use cases: AI in public services Generative AI and foundation models Safety-critical and infrastructure
Sectors: Cross-sector / all sectors
Obligation areas

How to use this information

Start from the EU AI Act record for obligations; use this page for the national authorities, penalties and strategy.
Open the official source on each instrument before relying on any date or obligation.
Check national data-protection, employment and consumer law that applies to AI systems regardless of the AI Act.

Official government and regulator sources

Real Decreto 729/2023, Estatuto de la AESIA
Boletín Oficial del Estado · 2023-09-07 · Tier 1 source
AESIA
Ministerio para la Transformación Digital y de la Función Pública · Tier 1 source

Frequently asked questions

What is AESIA?: The Spanish AI Supervision Agency, created by Royal Decree 729/2023 and based in A Coruña. It supervises AI systems, runs the national sandbox and is Spain's market-surveillance authority under the EU AI Act.

Informational only, not legal advice. Verify every claim against the linked official sources and consult qualified counsel before acting.