Question 1

Does El Salvador's AI Promotion Law impose fines?

Accepted Answer

No. D.L. 234 is a promotion statute with no sanctions chapter. The fines that apply to improper data processing are in the Personal Data Protection Law (D.L. 144) and are imposed by the State Cybersecurity Agency (ACE). For a lawyer the greater exposure is not financial: it is the Supreme Court's power to suspend for gross negligence or ignorance (Constitution, Art. 182, power 12).

Question 2

Must a law firm using AI copilots register with ANIA?

Accepted Answer

Not for that use. Art. 12(e) of the Regulation (ANIA Resolution 0001/2025) expressly excludes consumer and productivity software —word processors, spreadsheets, communication tools— from mandatory registration, "even if they incorporate auxiliary AI functions". Mandatory registration arises from the six consequential-decision uses listed in Art. 11.

Question 3

Do the Art. 19 safe harbors automatically protect anyone using AI?

Accepted Answer

No. The chapeau of Art. 19 conditions every safe harbor on being "duly registered in the National Registry of AI Development, Innovation and Application" and in compliance with the applicable technical standards. Without registration there is no safe harbor — not even the sandbox one or the one covering third-party misuse.

Question 4

Did the Constitutional Chamber set binding criteria for lawyers using AI?

Accepted Answer

Not exactly. In ruling 57-2025 the Chamber reproduced twelve criteria taken from judgment T-323/2024 of Colombia's Constitutional Court, and their text addresses judicial officers and staff. The Chamber imposed no sanction: it reasoned that a constitutionality claim is a citizen faculty, unlike legal representation activities, and warned that in those other cases such acts must not remain free of controls and liability.

Question 5

When does the twelve-month period in Art. 29 of the ANIA Regulation expire?

Accepted Answer

It cannot be dated from the document alone. Art. 30 provides that the Regulation enters into force eight days after publication in the Official Gazette, and that publication date does not appear in the document. The twelve months of Art. 29 run from that entry into force and apply to AI systems already operating in the six sectors of Art. 11 — it is the client's deadline, not the lawyer's.

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