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AI regulation in Central African Republic: laws & policy (2026)

AI in Central African Republic: no framework.

The Central African Republic has no national AI legislation, strategy, or voluntary guidelines. Its digital regulatory framework is limited to basic telecommunications laws from 2017-2018, a data protection law enacted in January 2024, and a 2018 national digitisation plan ('Centrafrique Numérique') focused on public-sector ICT, none of which specifically address AI governance. As an African Union member state, CAR is nominally covered by the AU Continental AI Strategy (2024), but has not translated this into any domestic AI policy.

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Legal framework

No AI-specific law, strategy, or guidelines exist; general ICT regulation under ARCEP (Law 17.020/2017) and a data protection law (Loi 24/001, 2024) form the only relevant digital legal infrastructure.

Key points: artificial intelligence in Central African Republic

  1. No AI law or strategy

    CAR has enacted no dedicated AI legislation, no national AI strategy, and no sector-specific AI rules. The Paradigm Initiative's digital rights assessment for CAR confirms the complete absence of any AI regulatory framework in the country.

    paradigmhq.org

  2. Telecom regulatory framework

    The primary digital laws are Law 17.020 (19 May 2017) establishing ARCEP as the electronic communications and postal regulator, Law 17.009 (21 Feb 2017) on postal activities, and Law 18.002 (17 Jan 2018) regulating electronic communications, none of which address AI.

    paradigmhq.org

  3. Data protection law enacted 2024

    Loi 24/001 (January 2024) introduced a comprehensive personal data protection framework, including rights of access, rectification, erasure, and a right not to be subject to automated decision-making. It is the closest instrument to AI-relevant regulation, but it is not an AI law.

    dataprotection.africa techhiveadvisory.africa

  4. Centrafrique Numérique 2018 plan

    The government adopted the 'Centrafrique Numérique' national strategic plan in 2018 to guide public-sector digitisation and telecommunications infrastructure development. It does not contain AI-specific objectives or governance measures.

    paradigmhq.org documents1.worldbank.org

  5. AU Continental AI Strategy, membership only

    As a member state of the African Union, CAR is covered by the AU Continental AI Strategy endorsed in June 2024, which calls for national AI strategies and governance frameworks across all 55 member states. CAR has not yet acted on this call domestically.

    au.int au.int

  6. Structural capacity constraints

    ARCEP, the sole digital regulator, has limited enforcement capacity and resources, and no dedicated supervisory authority under the 2024 data protection law has yet been fully operationalised, making effective AI oversight infrastructurally unfeasible at present.

    paradigmhq.org dataprotection.africa

Sources

  1. paradigmhq.org/la-republique-centrafricaine-et-lintelligence-artificielle-dans-lespa
  2. paradigmhq.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/CAR-Londa-Report.pdf
  3. dataprotection.africa/central-african-republic/
  4. techhiveadvisory.africa/insights/review-of-the-central-african-republic-data-protection-law
  5. au.int/en/documents/20240809/continental-artificial-intelligence-strategy
  6. au.int/en/pressreleases/20240617/african-ministers-adopt-landmark-continenta
  7. documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/283361648600399938/pdf/Central-African-Republic-Public-Sec

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Orientation, not legal advice: verify against the primary sources linked above. Last verified 24 May 2026. Methodology & how to cite · State of Technology Regulation 2026