AI Regulation Tracker  /  Ethics code

Venezuela issues a voluntary AI ethics code and signals a binding national AI law to follow

Venezuela's science ministry published a Code of Ethics for the Responsible Development and Application of AI on February 19, 2026. It carries no sanctions, but it points to a binding national AI law the government says is coming.

By Anthony Guerriero  ·  Reviewed by The Leveraged Years Editorial Desk  ·  Published July 7, 2026  ·  Last updated July 7, 2026

Venezuela's Ministry of Science and Technology published a national Code of Ethics for the Responsible Development and Application of Artificial Intelligence on February 19, 2026. Minister Gabriela Jimenez Ramirez presented it as a guiding instrument and invited scientific, academic, and industry actors to adopt it. The document is not a law. According to law-firm analyses of the text, its scope is advisory and it provides no sanction for non-compliance. For firms with operations or ambitions in Venezuela, the news is less about a new obligation and more about a signal of where obligations are heading.

What the code says

The code sets nine principles for the design, development, implementation, and use of AI systems. Reported summaries and the ministry's own announcement list them as humanistic AI, equity and non-discrimination, environmental responsibility, security, privacy, transparency, accountability, open science, and excellence. The privacy principle, listed as principle five, calls for effective protection of personal and sensitive data. The transparency and accountability principles emphasize human oversight and community participation in evaluating systems. The stated purpose is to keep AI adoption responsible, sustainable, and centered on people, in line with human rights and the public interest.

Read together, these principles point developers and deployers toward familiar data-governance expectations, including limiting and safeguarding the personal and sensitive data an AI system uses and keeping systems open to human review. The code frames these as ethical commitments the government urges actors to adopt. It does not attach them to penalties, deadlines, or a supervisory authority.

What the code does not do

This is soft law. The code creates no legal duty, imposes no fines, and establishes no regulator to enforce it. A company that ignores the code violates no statute today. That distinction matters for compliance teams, because a voluntary framework and a binding rule call for different responses. The correct reading is that Venezuela has published an ethical baseline and asked the market to follow it, not that it has created new liability. Treating the code as if it already binds would overstate the current legal position.

The binding law being signaled

The code arrives alongside a legislative track that would make AI rules enforceable. Law-firm and press accounts report that the National Assembly approved a proposed AI law on first discussion in November 2024. On April 16, 2026, the minister said MINCYT would bring a set of draft laws to the National Assembly, including a National Law for the Development and Ethical Use of AI. The exact contents, article count, and timetable of that bill are not confirmed by the primary code document, and the law has not been enacted. What can be stated with confidence is the direction of travel. The government has both issued voluntary principles and moved a binding instrument through an early legislative stage.

For planning purposes, the safer assumption is that a future statute will draw on the same principles the code now expresses. Firms that align with the code today are unlikely to find themselves far from the binding standard later.

The cross-border angle for US readers

The code does not bind US firms, and it does not directly affect operations outside Venezuela. Its relevance for a US compliance team is anticipatory. A US company that builds, sells, or deploys AI in Venezuela can use the code as an early map of the data-protection and transparency expectations a Venezuelan AI law is likely to encode. For multinationals standardizing AI governance across markets, the Venezuelan principles track themes already visible in other jurisdictions, which makes conforming to them a low-cost hedge rather than a country-specific burden.

The practical posture is measured. Nothing here is enforceable, so there is no immediate compliance deadline. The value is in reading the signal early, documenting where existing AI practices already meet the nine principles, and being ready if and when the announced binding law converts these voluntary expectations into duties.

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Informational analysis for working professionals, not legal advice. Confirm how any rule applies to your situation with qualified counsel.