AI regulation in Czechia: the EU AI Act (2026)

The bulk of the EU AI Act (Regulation EU 2024/1689), including all high-risk AI system requirements and conformity assessments, became directly enforceable across Czechia. Czech market-surveillance authorities — Czech Telecommunication Office (ČTÚ), Czech National Bank (ČNB), and Office for Personal Data Protection (ÚOOÚ) — took on full enforcement roles.

An amendment to the Road Traffic Act entered into force, permitting AI-driven vehicles with SAE Level 3 conditional automation on Czech motorways and expressways, making Czechia one of the first EU states with a formal legal framework for automated driving; a human driver must remain present and ready to intervene.

The High Court in Prague ruled that AI facial recognition could resume at Václav Havel Airport under strict operational conditions — internet isolation, encrypted communications, access limited to trained personnel, and human review of all matches — resolving the enforcement standoff triggered by the EU AI Act's August 2025 obligations.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MPO) released its draft implementing law (Adaptační zákon o umělé inteligenci) — a short, targeted text that assigns market-surveillance roles to ČTÚ, ČNB, and ÚOOÚ, establishes a national AI regulatory sandbox, and sets procedural and language requirements without duplicating the EU AI Act's substantive rules.

Following the forced suspension of Prague Airport's facial recognition system, the Czech government adopted the Ministry of the Interior's proposal to provide an explicit statutory basis for police-operated AI biometric identification at international airports, cutting the unrecognised-visitor data-retention limit from 90 to 30 days.

Governance provisions and general-purpose AI model obligations under the EU AI Act became applicable; simultaneously, Czech Police were forced to shut down the AI facial recognition camera system at Václav Havel Airport — operational since 2018 — because no domestic legal framework had yet been enacted, exposing the enforcement gap.

An amendment to Act No. 273/2008 Coll. (on the Police of the Czech Republic) entered into force, establishing the first explicit Czech statutory framework for AI-powered biometric identification at international airports for security purposes, aligned with EU AI Act requirements for law-enforcement biometric systems.

The Czech Senate passed a major Criminal Code reform that explicitly criminalises producing or distributing pornographic content depicting a person without their consent, directly targeting AI-generated deepfakes; unlike many foreign laws, liability arises without needing to prove that serious harm was caused.

The government formally adopted an internal implementation policy for the EU AI Act and assigned the Ministry of Industry and Trade responsibility for drafting national adaptation legislation by 31 October 2025, setting the institutional roadmap and legislative timetable for domestic enforcement.

The government approved the updated National Artificial Intelligence Strategy of the Czech Republic 2030, coordinated by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The strategy maps seven priority areas, commits approximately CZK 19 billion in project investments, and includes an annually updated action plan to align Czech AI policy with the EU AI Act.

The Czech government adopted the original National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, making Czechia one of the EU's earliest movers on formal AI policy. The strategy set a three-phase roadmap — legal analysis by 2021, ethical guidelines in the medium term, and a flexible AI-ready legal system by 2035 — coordinated by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.