AI regulation in Dominican Republic (2026)

Launched October 2023 via Presidential Decree 498-23, ENIA is led by OGTIC and the Digital Innovation and Development Cabinet. It establishes six pillars — infrastructure, human talent, governance, the TAINA AI model project, regional networks, and financing — as a roadmap for ethical and responsible AI adoption in the state.

In February 2025, Congressman Tobías Crespo introduced the first AI-specific bill in the Chamber of Deputies, proposing a National AI Council (CONIA), prohibitions on military and manipulative AI uses, and a sanctions regime. Concurrently, senators Omar Fernández and Rafael Duluc Rijo submitted separate organic AI bills in the Senate; all remain under committee review.

The Senate's Higher Education, Science and Technology Commission held multiple hearings through 2025, including testimony from the director of the Instituto Tecnológico de Las Américas (ITLA), examining the 34-article organic AI bill. No floor vote had been scheduled as of early 2026.

The Dominican Republic is registered with the UNESCO Global AI Ethics and Governance Observatory and endorsed the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI. The country hosted the Third Ministerial Summit on AI Ethics for Latin America and the Caribbean in 2025.

OGTIC, aligned with the Open Government Partnership Action Plan 2024–2028, has been developing a Code of Ethics for AI in the public sector, intended to complement the ENIA governance pillar; it had not been formally enacted as of May 2026.

A 2025 IPANDETEC/Forum on Information and Democracy analysis confirmed that AI bills in Costa Rica, Panama, and the Dominican Republic are all still under legislative deliberation, with none having enacted a comprehensive AI law in the region as of the report date.