AI regulation in Algeria: laws & policy (2026)

Presidential Decree 26-07 established the operational governance framework for cybersecurity within public administration, requiring every state institution to create a dedicated cybersecurity unit. It directly implements the December 2025 National Cybersecurity Strategy and sets baseline security standards applicable to AI deployments in government.

A companion presidential decree enacted a national data governance framework, codifying rules for sovereign data management, data localisation obligations, and cross-border data flows. The decree directly constrains how AI systems may store and process Algerian citizens' data and reinforces the ANPDP's jurisdiction.

Algeria's five-pillar National Cybersecurity Strategy was approved by presidential decree, mandating security audits for critical infrastructure, sector-specific rules for banking, healthcare, and energy, and capacity-building for 285,000 trainees. Context: Algeria recorded over 70 million cyberattacks in 2024, ranking 17th globally among most-targeted nations, directly motivating AI-system security governance.

The government approved a draft bill replacing the 2015 electronic-certification framework with a modernised digital-identity and e-trust-services law. The bill governs digital signatures and authenticated identities used in AI-mediated transactions and automated public-sector procedures.

Parliament adopted Law No. 25-11 amending Law 18-07 to require mandatory Data Protection Officers (DPOs), Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs), data-sovereignty hosting obligations, and expanded ANPDP enforcement powers. These requirements directly apply to AI systems that process personal data and represent the closest Algeria has come to an AI-specific regulatory obligation.

The government launched its National Digital Transformation Strategy (SNTN 2025-2029), setting a target for AI to contribute 7% of GDP by 2027, mandating sovereign cloud infrastructure, and targeting 20,000 AI startups. The strategy explicitly identifies AI regulatory framework development as one of its six pillars.

The Minister of Post and Telecommunications presided over the foundation-stone ceremony for a national AI and data-centre complex in Oran equipped with GPU clusters for AI workloads, targeting research institutions, startups, and academia in agriculture, energy, and climate modelling. This is the primary public AI compute infrastructure underpinning the National AI Strategy.

Algeria's AI Council (led by Professor Merouane Debbah) formally adopted the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, structured around six pillars: research & innovation, human capital, infrastructure, investment, regulatory framework, and priority sectors. The strategy also proposes expanding the ANPDP's mandate to oversee AI-specific data governance, the first concrete blueprint for AI regulation in Algeria.

One year after the ANPDP was installed, Law 18-07 became enforceable in August 2023. Data controllers, including AI developers and deployers, became legally required to register processing activities and obtain ANPDP authorisations. This is the primary operative legal constraint on AI data pipelines in Algeria today.

The Ministers of Higher Education and Knowledge Economy jointly installed the Conseil Scientifique de l'Intelligence Artificielle, composed of national and international experts. As the first dedicated AI governance body, it was tasked with designing a cross-sectoral AI strategy and aligning innovation with ethical standards, the institutional predecessor to the December 2024 strategy adoption.

The National Authority for the Protection of Personal Data (ANPDP) was formally installed after presidential appointment of its leadership in May 2022. Its installation started the one-year clock to Law 18-07's enforcement and established Algeria's first independent data regulator, which the 2024 AI Strategy proposed to also serve as de facto AI data overseer.

Algeria enacted Law 18-07, its foundational data protection statute modelled on the GDPR, establishing principles of lawful processing, purpose limitation, and data minimisation, and creating the ANPDP. All subsequent AI governance obligations in Algeria are built on this legislative foundation.