The successful implementation of the EU AI Act into national law is the primary focus for the Czech Republic, with its National AI Strategy being the main policy document.

Laws/Regulations directly regulating AI (the “AI Regulations”)

Currently, there are no specific laws, statutory rules, or regulations in the Czech Republic that directly regulate artificial intelligence (AI). The Czech Republic is not expected to enact its own complex regulation of AI, as the EU AI Act is expected to fulfill this function for all EU Member States. However, the Czech Republic is active on the AI policy level and shall adopt national AI Regulations where the EU AI Act provides for its adaptation (similar to other EU Member States).

The Czech Republic released a National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (NAIS) in May 2019, with the aim to support the development and use of AI.¹ The strategy was developed in cooperation between the Ministry of Industry and Trade, various research institutions, the private sector, and industry professionals from the general public based on the Innovation Strategy of the Czech Republic 2019-2030² and Resolution No. 629 of October 3, 2018 of the Czech government on the Digital Czech Republic (i.e., the strategy for digitization in the Czech Republic, which rests on three pillars – EU collaboration of the Czech Republic in the realm of the digital agenda; digitization of the public administration; and preparing society and the economy for digitization through collaborative efforts).³

The NAIS is divided into seven chapters and focuses, among others, on the promotion of science, research and development, support for investment, financing, and development of AI systems in industry and services, legal and social aspects as well as human capital and the education system. To reflect rapid technological developments and trends and the increasing use of AI tools, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is currently preparing an update of the NAIS, which will determine priorities and goals in this area until 2030.

In 2022, the government issued the Strategic Plan for the Digitalization of Czechia by 2030; one of its objectives is for 75% of businesses to use at least one of these technologies by the end of the decade: cloud computing, big data, or AI.⁴

Status of the AI Regulations

The EU AI Act is addressed separately here.

As noted above, there are currently no specific laws or regulations in the Czech Republic that directly regulate AI. The Czech Republic's main focus is now on the successful implementation of the EU AI Act into the national law, which has the following four priorities:

1. Appropriate changes to the Czech legal framework
2. Active involvement in the negotiation of secondary legal acts on the EU level
3. Setting up the enforcement mechanism, including ensuring the necessary professional capacities
4. Active awareness and communication

From the perspective of the Czech Republic, this means undertaking the following steps at the national level (in the form of AI Regulations where appropriate):

• Establishing an exemption from the prohibitions in Article 5 of the EU AI Act, to allow the use of remote biometric identification in real time for law enforcement purposes
• Creating a regulatory sandbox for AI
• Setting up a system of sanctions and administrative fines
• Testing in real conditions and supervision of such testing
• Putting measures in place for providers and deployers, especially in support of SMEs and start-ups
• Supporting the creation of voluntary codes of conduct
• Designation of notifying authorities and market surveillance authorities
• Nomination of representatives for the Czech Republic to the AI Board
• Establishment of market surveillance and control of AI systems
• Identification of the authorities supervising the protection of fundamental rights⁵

Other laws affecting AI

There are various laws that do not directly seek to regulate AI but may affect the development or use of AI in the Czech Republic. A non-exhaustive list of key examples includes:

• The Civil Code
• The Data Processing Act, implementing the GDPR
• The Consumer Protection Act
• The Copyright Act, in particular Sections 39c and 39d concerning required licenses for text and data mining, as well as other intellectual property laws
• The Anti-discrimination Act
• Antitrust and competition regulations, especially the Competition Protection Act
• Security and cybersecurity legislation, including the Cybersecurity Act

Definition of “AI”

As there are currently no specific laws or policies in the Czech Republic that directly regulate AI, no definition of AI is currently recognized by Czech national legislation.
The definition of an AI system contained in Art. 3(1) of the EU AI Act will likely be the key definition used in the Czech Republic.

Territorial scope

There are currently no specific laws or regulations in the Czech Republic that directly regulate AI; therefore, there is no specific territorial scope set at this stage.

Sectoral scope

As noted above, there are currently no specific laws or regulations in the Czech Republic that directly regulate AI. Accordingly, there is no specific sectoral scope at this stage.

Compliance roles

As there are no specific laws or regulations in the Czech Republic that directly regulate AI as of yet, there are also no specific or unique obligations imposed on developers, users, operators and/or deployers of AI systems. The standards will be set by the EU AI Act, once in force.

Core issues that the AI Regulations seek to address

As noted above, there are currently no specific laws or regulations in the Czech Republic that directly regulate AI. Nevertheless, the above-mentioned NAIS seeks to address, within the AI regulation, issues related to discrimination and data protection and calls for the creation of an administrative and legislative framework for AI that prevents any form of misuse of AI, discrimination, or disadvantage, with a fundamental emphasis on protecting rights and privacy.

Risk categorization

As noted above, there are currently no specific laws or regulations in the Czech Republic that directly regulate AI and the aforementioned NAIS does not set out any AI-related risk categorization.

Key compliance requirements

As there are currently no specific laws or regulations in the Czech Republic that directly regulate AI, there are no specific AI-related national compliance requirements.

Regulators

The Ministry of Industry and Trade coordinates the overall AI strategy, while the competent ministries and other state authorities in each respective area are expected to participate in internal regulatory processes. These include, inter alia, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic.

In addition, there are ongoing discussions as to which Czech authority will be designated as the national supervisory authority required under the EU AI Act. Potential candidates include the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Czech Governmental Office, the Office for Personal Data Protection, or the Czech Telecommunication Office.

Important factors that are being considered with respect to the designation are:

• The advantages of a more or less centralized supervision solution
• Existing expert capacity
• Linkage to other regulations in the areas of the digital agenda and cybersecurity
• The total number of entities that will be subject to supervision⁶

Enforcement powers and penalties

As noted above, there are currently no specific laws or regulations in the Czech Republic that directly regulate AI. As such, enforcement and penalties relating to the creation, dissemination and/or use of AI are governed by: (i) the EU AI Act; and (ii) pertinent provisions in non-AI specific regulation.

1 The 2019 NAIS is available here.
2 The Innovation Strategy of the Czech Republic 2019 – 2030 is available here.
3 The Digital Czech Republic is available here.
4 The Strategic Plan for the Digitalization of Czechia by 2030 is available here.
5 A public presentation by the Czech Governmental Office at the Lawfit Conference, held on May 27, 2024, in Prague.
6 A public presentation by the Czech Governmental Office at the Lawfit Conference, held on May 27, 2024, in Prague.

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