In December 2025, Spain became the first country in the world to publish technical guides for implementing the European AI Regulation. The Spanish Agency for Artificial Intelligence Supervision (AESIA) developed these practical manuals to help companies and organisations comply with rules that will become mandatory in August 2026.
The European Regulation sets strict requirements for high-risk AI systems: those applied to healthcare, employment, recruitment, or detecting vulnerable situations. These systems must be thoroughly documented, include risk assessments, guarantee data quality and maintain human oversight. Fines for non-compliance can reach 7% of global turnover.
This regulatory framework is particularly relevant for projects like BRAVE-WOW, where technology is applied to highly sensitive contexts. CTIC, the project’s technology partner, is developing Natural Language Processing tools to identify patterns of violence and harassment in healthcare workplaces. The system analyses content in four languages (Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and Slovenian) whilst respecting privacy.
Since 2023, Spain has operated the first AI regulatory Sandbox in collaboration with the European Commission, a space where companies and institutions test systems in controlled environments. Over two years, twelve Spanish companies worked with the Ministry to test and validate how to implement the Regulation’s requirements. The guides published in December emerged from this process: documents built on real cases to solve real problems.
The guides cover areas such as risk management, data governance, transparency, cybersecurity and post-market monitoring. They’re not theoretical documents but practical tools that explain, step by step, how to meet each requirement.
When the Regulation comes into full force in August 2026, projects working with AI in gender-based violence contexts, like BRAVE-WOW, will need to demonstrate their systems meet these standards. CTIC’s work shows it’s possible to develop useful technology without compromising fundamental rights: designing with privacy from the start, keeping humans at the centre of decisions and being transparent about how algorithms work.
Spain is demonstrating that regulating AI doesn’t slow innovation but directs it where it should go: serving people, with guarantees, with accountability. European projects like BRAVE-WOW are building that future by applying technology responsibly to some of the most complex challenges we face as a society.