{"slug":"spain","name":"Spain","short_name":"Spain","iso_code":"ES","jurisdiction_type":"country","region":"Europe","subregion":"Southern Europe","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.","regulatory_status_summary":"EU AI Act applies; AESIA operational; national implementation bill proposed (2025); AI Strategy 2024 as policy.","binding_vs_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.","current_priorities":"Passing the AI governance bill, AESIA supervision, the sandbox, Spanish-language foundation models and supercomputing.","regulators":[{"name":"Agencia Española de Supervisión de la Inteligencia Artificial (AESIA)","url":"https://aesia.digital.gob.es/","role":"National AI supervisory agency and market-surveillance authority"},{"name":"Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD)","url":"https://www.aepd.es/","role":"Data-protection authority"}],"official_sources":[{"title":"Real Decreto 729/2023, Estatuto de la AESIA","publisher":"Boletín Oficial del Estado","url":"https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2023-18911","document_date":"2023-09-07","document_type":"legislation","tier":1},{"title":"AESIA","publisher":"Ministerio para la Transformación Digital y de la Función Pública","url":"https://aesia.digital.gob.es/","document_type":"official","tier":1}],"related_jurisdictions":["eu","portugal","italy"],"url":"https://aipolicytracker.org/jurisdictions/spain","source":{"official_source_url":"https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2023-18911","source_title":"Real Decreto 729/2023, Estatuto de la AESIA","source_publisher":"Boletín Oficial del Estado","source_document_date":"2023-09-07","source_reference":null,"source_tier":1,"last_checked_at":"2026-09-26","last_verified_at":"2026-09-26","review_status":"verified","confidence_level":"medium","content_version":1,"change_summary":"Added in the September 2026 global coverage expansion; overview composed from the listed instruments and official sources. Reviewer to confirm regulators and status.","reviewed_by":"Bhaskar Bhatt"},"policies":[{"slug":"spain-draft-law-on-good-use-and-governance-of-ai","id":"AIPT-POL-0176","permanent_url":"https://aipolicytracker.org/id/AIPT-POL-0176","title":"Anteproyecto de Ley para el buen uso y la gobernanza de la inteligencia artificial","short_title":"Draft law on good use and governance of AI","jurisdiction":"spain","instrument_type":"bill","status":"proposed","is_binding":true,"ai_specific":true,"issuing_body":"Ministry for Digital Transformation and the Civil Service","summary_plain":"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.","adopted_on":null,"in_force_on":null,"applies_from":null,"official_source_url":"https://aesia.digital.gob.es/","last_verified_at":"2026-09-26","reviewed_by":"Bhaskar Bhatt","content_version":1,"review_status":"verified","confidence_level":"low","updated_at":"2026-10-15T06:46:24+00:00","url":"https://aipolicytracker.org/policies/spain-draft-law-on-good-use-and-governance-of-ai"},{"slug":"spain-royal-decree-729-2023-aesia","id":"AIPT-POL-0177","permanent_url":"https://aipolicytracker.org/id/AIPT-POL-0177","title":"Real Decreto 729/2023, de 22 de agosto, por el que se aprueba el Estatuto de la Agencia Española de Supervisión de Inteligencia Artificial","short_title":"Royal Decree 729/2023 (AESIA statute)","jurisdiction":"spain","instrument_type":"regulation","status":"in_force","is_binding":true,"ai_specific":true,"issuing_body":"Government of Spain","summary_plain":"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.","adopted_on":"2023-08-22","in_force_on":"2023-09-03","applies_from":null,"official_source_url":"https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2023-18911","last_verified_at":"2026-09-26","reviewed_by":"Bhaskar Bhatt","content_version":1,"review_status":"verified","confidence_level":"high","updated_at":"2026-10-15T06:46:24+00:00","url":"https://aipolicytracker.org/policies/spain-royal-decree-729-2023-aesia"},{"slug":"spain-royal-decree-817-2023-ai-sandbox","id":"AIPT-POL-0178","permanent_url":"https://aipolicytracker.org/id/AIPT-POL-0178","title":"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","short_title":"Royal Decree 817/2023 (AI regulatory sandbox)","jurisdiction":"spain","instrument_type":"regulation","status":"in_force","is_binding":true,"ai_specific":true,"issuing_body":"Government of Spain","summary_plain":"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.","adopted_on":"2023-11-08","in_force_on":"2023-11-10","applies_from":null,"official_source_url":"https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2023-22767","last_verified_at":"2026-09-26","reviewed_by":"Bhaskar Bhatt","content_version":1,"review_status":"verified","confidence_level":"high","updated_at":"2026-10-15T06:46:24+00:00","url":"https://aipolicytracker.org/policies/spain-royal-decree-817-2023-ai-sandbox"}]}