AI Watch: Global regulatory tracker - Taiwan (UPDATED)

[co-authors: Benjamin Li, Eddie Hsiung]

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

Currently, there are no specific codified laws, statutory rules or regulations in Taiwan that directly regulate AI.

Since 2019, members of the Legislative Yuan (Taiwan's congress) have been proposing various versions of draft AI laws. Separately, Taiwan's National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) announced its draft AI law in July 2024 and solicited public comments. Subsequently, the Executive Yuan (Taiwan's cabinet) followed up on the aforementioned NSTC draft and in August 2025, released the draft AI Basic Act (the "Government's Draft AI Law"), submitting it to the Legislative Yuan for review. As draft laws ultimately require approval from the Legislative Yuan, the likelihood and timing of its passage following its official publication remains uncertain.

Additionally, the Taiwan Government has published multiple guidelines and plans for AI development, such as:

• The AI Technology R&D Guidelines (AI R&D Guidelines) (published in September 2019)¹
• The Taiwan Artificial Intelligence Action Plan 2.0 (2023-2026) (AI Action Plan) (approved by the Executive Yuan in April 2023)²

In August 2023, the Executive Yuan also issued guidelines for the use of generative AI by the Executive Yuan and affiliated government authorities/agencies.³

Status of the AI Regulations

Guidelines and plans, such as the AI R&D Guidelines and the AI Action Plan, have already been approved and published (as discussed above).

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 Taiwan. A non-exhaustive list of key examples includes:

• The Personal Data Protection Act⁴
• The Financial Technology Development and Innovative Experimentation Act⁵
• The Unmanned Vehicles Technology Innovative and Experimentation Act⁶
• The Medical Devices Act⁷

Intellectual property laws may affect several aspects of AI development and use.

Definition of “AI”

As noted above, there are currently no specific laws or regulations in Taiwan that directly regulate AI. Accordingly, there is currently no official legal definition of AI in Taiwan. However, the Government's Draft AI Law defines AI as a self-operating system that applies machine learning and algorithms to generate output such as predictions, content, suggestions, or decisions.

Territorial scope

As noted above, there are currently no specific laws or regulations in Taiwan that directly regulate AI. Accordingly, there is currently no territorial scope.

Sectoral scope

As noted above, there are currently no specific laws or regulations in Taiwan that directly regulate AI. Nevertheless, legislators in Taiwan have promulgated certain sector-specific laws for companies to test the use of certain technologies (including AI) in controlled regulatory environments, such as:

• The Financial Technology Development and Innovative Experimentation Act (to promote fintech services and companies)⁸
• The Unmanned Vehicles Technology Innovative Experimentation Act (to promote the use of autonomous vehicles)⁹

Additionally, in the financial services industry, the Financial Supervisory Commission (Taiwan's financial regulator, the FSC) published the "core principles and policies for use of AI in the financial industry" (FSC AI Policy) in October 2023.¹⁰ In June 2024, the FSC also published a set of guidelines for the use of AI in the financial industry.¹¹

Compliance roles

As noted above, there are currently no specific laws or regulations in Taiwan that directly regulate AI. AI systems are not currently recognized as separate legal entities in Taiwan, so they cannot be subject to civil liability on a standalone basis. An injured party would therefore need to prove that the use of AI technology falls within a category of tort that is recognized under Taiwan's Civil Code and/or the Consumer Protection Act. For example, an injured party may be able to claim that: (i) the manufacturer of a self-driving car liable under Article 7 of the Consumer Protection Act; or (ii) the user of a self-driving car liable under Article 184 of the Civil Code.¹²

Core issues that the AI Regulations seek to address

As noted above, there are currently no specific laws or regulations in Taiwan that directly regulate AI.

Nevertheless, here is a summary of certain key provisions under the Government's Draft AI Law:

• The Government shall actively promote AI research, development, and infrastructure
• The Government shall prevent AI applications from harming people's lives, property, or national security
• The Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) shall be tasked with creating an AI risk classification framework based on international standards, and relevant Government agencies shall then use this framework to create tiered management regulations and restrict or prohibit high-risk applications
• The Government shall establish standards, verification, and accountability mechanisms to enhance the verifiability and human controllability of AI decisions
• For high-risk AI applications, the Government's Draft AI Law requires clarifying liability attribution and establishing remedy, compensation, or insurance mechanisms
• Concerning labor rights, the Government must protect workers' occupational safety and provide re-employment assistance to those who become unemployed due to AI
• The Government authority responsible for personal data protection should assist other Government agencies to prevent unnecessary collection, processing, or use of personal data during AI development and application, integrating privacy protection into the design of AI systems
• The Government is also required to establish a mechanism for data openness and sharing to increase the availability of data for AI, while upholding diverse cultural values and intellectual property rights
• Government agencies shall conduct risk assessments and establish internal controls when using AI for their operations
• Government agencies must review and adjust their duties and regulations accordingly to achieve the objectives of the Government's Draft AI Law

Risk categorization

As noted above, there are currently no specific laws or regulations in Taiwan that directly regulate AI. However, the Government’s Draft AI Law proposes that the MODA shall be tasked with creating an AI risk classification framework based on international standards, and relevant Government agencies shall then use this framework to create tiered management regulations and restrict or prohibit high-risk application.

Key compliance requirements

As noted above, there are currently no specific laws or regulations in Taiwan that directly regulate AI.

Nevertheless, the AI R&D Guidelines set out the following eight principles that participants in AI technology should be aware of when conducting relevant activities:¹³

• Common good and well-being
• Fairness and non-discrimination
• Autonomy and control
• Safety
• Privacy and data governance
• Transparency and traceability
• Explainability
• Accountability and communication

In addition, the Government’s Draft AI Law proposes seven guiding principles for AI development:
(i) Sustainability; (ii) Human Autonomy; (iii) Privacy Protection and Data Governance; (iv) Safety; (v) Transparency and Explainability; (vi) Fairness; and (vii) Accountability.

Regulators

Currently, there is no AI-specific regulator in Taiwan. However, the following authorities oversee different aspects of AI:

• The Ministry of Digital Affairs provides guidance and incentives for interdisciplinary digital innovation of AI and other digital economy related industries
• Sector-specific domains involving the use of AI (e.g., healthcare, transportation, finance, etc.) are regulated by relevant bodies such as the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Transportation and Communication, and the Financial Supervisory Commission

Enforcement powers and penalties

As noted above, there are currently no specific laws or regulations in Taiwan that directly regulate AI. Accordingly, enforcement and penalties relating to creation, dissemination and/or use of AI are governed by related violations in non-AI legislation.

1 Please see here (Mandarin only).
2 Please see here.
3 Please see here (Mandarin only).
4 Please see here.
5 Please see here.
6 Please see here.
7 Please see here.
8 Please see here.
9 Please see here.
10 Please see here (Mandarin only).
11 Please see here (Mandarin only).
12 Please see here.
13 Please see here (Mandarin only).

[View source.]