Regulatory sandbox

AESIA AI Regulatory Sandbox

Spain's AI regulatory sandbox, overseen by the AESIA agency, is one of Europe's first controlled environments for testing high-risk AI systems against EU AI Act requirements.

Last verified 2026-08-09

Established by Royal Decree 817/2023 and overseen by the Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence (AESIA), the sandbox is a controlled setting for providers of high-risk AI systems and general-purpose models to work through AI Act obligations such as risk management, data governance, transparency and human oversight. Its pilot has produced practical implementation guidelines ahead of harmonised EU rules.

Key specs

RegulatorAESIA (Spain)
FrameworkEU AI Act / RD 817/2023
FocusHigh-risk AI

Strengths

  • One of the first EU AI Act sandboxes
  • Practical guidelines from the pilot
  • Regulator-supervised AI Act testing

Trade-offs

  • Aimed at providers established in Spain
  • Full practical testing is still ramping up

Best for: Providers of high-risk AI systems preparing for EU AI Act compliance.

How the AESIA AI sandbox works

Unlike the fintech sandboxes here, Spain's program targets artificial intelligence. Established by Royal Decree 817/2023 and overseen by AESIA, it gives providers of high-risk AI systems and general-purpose models a supervised setting to work through EU AI Act obligations, risk management, data governance, transparency and human oversight, and to produce a compliance self-assessment reviewed by the authority. As one of Europe's first AI Act sandboxes, its pilot has already generated practical implementation guidelines. The caveats are that it is aimed at providers established in Spain and that full practical testing is still ramping up.

Head-to-head

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Sources: AESIA (Spain) ↗ · EU AI Act sandbox: member-state overview ↗

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