AI legal framework · El Salvador
The official texts governing artificial intelligence in El Salvador — the statute, its reform, the regulation, the Constitutional Chamber's ruling, and the data and cybersecurity laws — free to download, exactly as published. The documents are in Spanish: that is the language of the official texts.
The guide to start with — written by us
The map of the whole framework before you open a single decree: which statute exists and since when, which one actually fines and which does not, what applies to a firm and what to its clients, and the order to read the rest in. If you read one thing, read this.
The condensed analysis in Spanish and in English — useful when the client is foreign and the regime has to be explained in their language without translating by hand.
The core of the framework
The framework statute. It creates ANIA, defines the registry, the Art. 19 safe harbors, and IP ownership of AI development. Note: it is a promotion law — it has no sanctions chapter.
Amended Arts. 7 and 8-A: ANIA became a decentralized institution with its own legal personality. If you cite those articles, the text in force comes from here, not from the original D.L. 234.
Where the practical rules live: the six mandatory-registration sectors (Art. 11), the exclusions (Art. 12), the compliance pathways (Art. 16), the sandbox, and graduated enforcement.
The only Salvadoran ruling on the use of generative AI by those who litigate. It imposed no sanction — but warned that in legal representation these acts must not remain free of controls.
Where the real penalties live
The AI promotion law does not fine; this one does. Here are the infractions, the fines imposed by the ACE, and the duty to report security breaches. It reaches any firm that processes personal data.
Creates the State Cybersecurity Agency (ACE) and sets the obligations of regulated entities. The technical security standards required by Art. 16 of the AI law come from here.
Tax regime — not the AI regime
The tax incentives often confused with "the AI law." It is a different regime, with different requirements. Included precisely so the two never get mixed up.
The executive regulation of the tax regime above: how to apply, what to prove, and before whom.
External reading. PwC El Salvador's analysis of the AI implementation provisions belongs to that firm and is read on its own site: PwC — Provisions on AI implementation (Spanish).
State decrees and resolutions are official texts of free reproduction (Intellectual Property Law, D.L. 66/2024, Arts. 50–51). We send them exactly as downloaded from the official sources, unaltered — and in Spanish, because that is the language in which they are law.
Everything above — the 8 official texts, the crash course and the two syntheses — in one delivery to your inbox, ready to keep and share with your firm.
Ten law-firm scenarios, each anchored to an article of these statutes. The exam is free and grading is immediate. A pass — 8 out of 10 — qualifies you for a verifiable record with a public folio.
The cases are administered in Spanish, the language of the statutes they test.