The Government of Spain, through the Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence, belonging to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, and the European Commission have presented today in Brussels the pilot project to launch the first regulatory sandbox (testbed) of the European Union on Artificial Intelligence.
This sandbox aims to bring the competent authorities closer to Artificial Intelligence development companies to jointly define best practices that will serve as a basis for the implementation of the future European regulation on Artificial Intelligence (Artificial Intelligence Act), and to ensure that it can be applied in the planned time, in two years.
While the entire ecosystem prepares for its implementation, this pilot led by Spain is expected to generate best practice guidelines and guides to prepare and raise awareness among companies, especially SMEs and startups, to facilitate its implementation. This pilot proposed by the Spanish government will study the operability of the requirements of the future regulation, as well as conformity assessments or post-marketing activities.
Thanks to this experience, it will be possible to document which obligations must be fulfilled and how to implement them, both for the AI system providers (Sandbox Participants), as well as the method for monitoring and follow-up that will serve the national supervisory authorities that will have to implement the monitoring mechanisms established by the regulation.
This is an exercise that seeks to strengthen the cooperation of all possible actors at European level, open to Member States, which can follow or join the pilot, which could turn the initiative promoted by Spain into a pan-European regulatory sandbox for Artificial Intelligence.
Cooperation at EU level with other Member States will be carried out in the framework of the Expert Group on AI and Digitization of Enterprises set up by the Commission.
The pilot has a total budget of 4.3 million euros over three years, from the start of work this year until 2024, an investment framed within the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy that is part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (Component 16 of the Plan).
Good Practice Guide accessible to all Member States and the EC
The tests will start from October 2022 and the results will be collected in a guide of good practices and implementation guidelines, which will be published during the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU, in the second half of 2023. This guide will be accessible to all Member States and the European Commission, which will be able to use it to prepare the implementation of the future Regulation.
Participating organizations, and especially SMEs, will benefit from increased legal certainty and the transfer of compliance know-how. This exercise will also facilitate the development of innovative and reliable AI systems that can access the Spanish and European market.
This process will also serve to initiate consultations for the creation of a Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence.
Vicox is a law firm specialized in cryptoassets and new technologies law. If you have an innovative project related to Artificial Intelligence, do not hesitate to contact us to see how you can benefit from the Sandbox regime.
Source: The first Artificial Intelligence regulatory sandbox pilot in the EU (mineco.gob.es).
