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Good practice Imported

SCE's AI Code of Ethics and AI Lab — Ecuador's First Public-Sector AI Governance Framework

Ecuador · Quito · See the Ecuador profile · See the Quito profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 32% 67/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Ecuador's Superintendencia de Competencia Económica adopted the country's first public-sector AI ethics code in 2025, aligned with UNESCO's AI Recommendation, and opened an AI Lab with 20+ tools. UNESCO calls it a Latin American precedent; no efficiency data published yet.

20+ tools
AI tools available through the AI Lab (2025)
8 principles
Ethical principles set out in the Code (2025)
SCE's AI Code of Ethics and AI Lab — Ecuador's First Public-Sector AI Governance Framework

Details

Promoter
Superintendencia de Competencia Económica (SCE), Ecuador
Period
2025
Keywords
competition regulation, AI governance, public administration

Context

Ecuador's Superintendencia de Competencia Económica (SCE) reformed its institutional Code of Ethics on 13 March 2025 to add rules governing staff use of artificial intelligence, then formally presented the Code of Ethics for the Use of Artificial Intelligence and a companion usage guide in Quito on 11 June 2025 under Superintendent Hans Ehmig. The code follows UNESCO's 2021 Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence; UNESCO describes it as the first such framework adopted by a public institution in Ecuador and a precedent for Latin America.

Activities

The code sets eight principles — transparency and accountability, human oversight and control, fairness and impartiality, privacy by design, non-discrimination and inclusion, confidentiality and discretion, innovation, and security — and requires that no automated decision be issued without human review, and that confidential investigative case data never be entered into AI tools. In July 2025 the SCE opened a Laboratorio de Inteligencia Artificial giving officials access to more than 20 AI tools, including ChatGPT-5 and Gemini, operating under the code's guardrails.

Results

No data on efficiency gains, case-processing time or staff adoption has been published. The available evidence covers only the governance framework itself — its principles, restrictions and the AI Lab's scope — not measured operational outcomes.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — Appears limited to staff time for drafting the code/guide and subscription or licensing costs for existing commercial AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT-5, Gemini) made available through the AI Lab; no capital infrastructure spend is described.
Time to results
Short (< 1 year) — Code reform adopted 13 March 2025, formally presented 11 June 2025, AI Lab opened July 2025 — roll-out completed within about four months.
Staffing & skills
SCE staff across the institution use the AI Lab's 20+ tools under Superintendent Hans Ehmig's leadership, No dedicated new AI-oversight unit is described beyond existing institutional leadership

Conditions for success

  • Mandatory human review before any automated decision is issued
  • Ban on entering confidential investigative case data into AI tools
  • Explicit alignment with UNESCO's 2021 Recommendation on the Ethics of AI to anchor legitimacy

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Data sources

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