AI regulation in Moldova (2026)

On September 5, 2024, Moldova signed the Council of Europe Framework Convention on AI and Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law in Vilnius — the first internationally binding AI treaty. The signing was carried out by Justice Minister Veronica Mihailov-Moraru; ratification status into domestic law has not yet been confirmed.

The Ministry of Economic Development and Digitalization released Moldova's first national AI policy framework document on October 2, 2024. It sets strategic direction for AI governance, emphasising ethical, inclusive, and sustainable development aligned with EU and international standards, and serves as the basis for future binding legislation.

A draft law permitting government agencies to use AI in service delivery is being prepared with planned entry into force of January 1, 2027. It requires transparency and human oversight for AI-assisted decisions and bans fully automated decisions in sensitive areas such as social-benefit termination and child-custody cases.

As of May 2026, the Ministry of Economic Development and Digitalization was developing a draft government decree for a National AI Program 2026–2030, aiming to shift Moldova from technology consumer to developer and to build a transparent data-governance system aligned with EU values; government adoption was targeted for June 2026.

A Sub-Council on AI and Data Governance with 21 members drawn from public institutions, ICT business, international stakeholders, and civil society was established in August 2024 under the Ministry of Economic Development and Digitalization to coordinate AI policy and accelerate responsible AI adoption.

As an EU candidate country, Moldova's AI regulatory trajectory is explicitly tied to EU accession. Officials have stated the EU AI Act will be transposed into national law upon accession; current reforms are designed to pre-align with EU standards, and the MEIG and UNDP have noted this as the primary driver of Moldova's AI governance architecture.