BahrainPersonal Data Protection Law No. 30 of 2018 governs automated processing and is named in the iGA AI policy as a compliance obligation for government AI use. No AI-specific guidance from the Personal Data Protection Authority, and nothing addressed to legal services, was located.
Regulation Tracker · Country · Middle East
Bahrain
Developingmixedupdated 2026-09-04verified 2026-09-04
As of 4 September 2026 Bahrain has no court rule, judicial guidance or bar rule on AI in legal practice. The Information and eGovernment Authority's General Policy for the Use of Artificial Intelligence (v1.0, 20 May 2025) applies across government, requiring human decision-making and iGA-coordinated adoption. A 38-article Shura Council AI bill remains stalled after government objections.
As of 2026-09-04, Bahrain has 1 binding rule, official guidance in 2 categories, 1 proposal and 0 positions set only by case law across the 20 categories in the map. Binding rules cover data protection and legal AI. In 16 categories we found nothing; in 0 the position is not yet determined.
How to read this page
- Binding rule Binding rule means a rule in force from a court, statute, regulator or equivalent authority.
- Official guidance Official guidance means an official non-binding position from a judiciary, regulator, bar or public body.
- Proposed / consultation Proposed / consultation means a public bill, draft rule or consultation that is not yet in force.
- Set by case law Set by case law means no rule was found, but courts have set the position in decisions.
- Nothing found Nothing found means the category was checked and no rule, guidance, proposal or case-law position was found.
- Not yet determined Not yet determined means research did not establish a reliable position yet.
The rules, category by category
No court-specific policy found. The iGA General Policy for the Use of Artificial Intelligence (v1.0, 20 May 2025) applies to all government entities in Bahrain and governs how they adopt AI; it contains no judiciary-, court- or justice-specific provision on the verified full text.
Not legal-sector specific. The iGA policy's second pillar requires government entities to consider AI in projects and procurements, to adopt AI only in coordination with the iGA, to follow iGA standards for launching AI initiatives, and to run regular audits of AI use.
A 38-article standalone AI bill approved by the Shura Council in April 2024 would create a National Centre for Artificial Intelligence under the Ministry of Interior with licensing, civil and criminal liability and penalties up to ten years. The government objected in November 2024, preferring a regulatory sandbox; not enacted.
No rule, guidance or reported case found as of 4 September 2026. No Bahraini court rule or practice direction requires disclosure or certification of AI use in filings.
No rule, guidance or reported case found as of 4 September 2026.
No rule, guidance or reported case found as of 4 September 2026. Bahraini judges and prosecutors attended UNESCO's Arab-region AI and Rule of Law training in Doha (8-11 December 2024), but the Supreme Judicial Council has issued no guidance on judges' use of AI.
No rule, guidance or reported case found as of 4 September 2026. The iGA policy's first principle requires that the final decision in important matters remain under human control, and its second pillar requires human oversight so that responsibility rests with people, not machines — but it is not addressed to adjudication.
No rule, guidance or reported case found as of 4 September 2026.
No rule, guidance or reported case found as of 4 September 2026. No Bahraini evidence rule or guidance on authenticating AI-generated or deepfake material was located.
No rule, guidance or reported case found as of 4 September 2026. The Bahrain Bar Society has published no restriction on client data in AI tools.
No rule, guidance or reported case found as of 4 September 2026. Amendments to Bahrain's Law of Advocacy were reported in 2026 but no AI or technology competence duty was identified.
No rule, guidance or reported case found as of 4 September 2026.
No rule, guidance or reported case found as of 4 September 2026.
No rule, guidance or reported case found as of 4 September 2026.
No rule, guidance or reported case found as of 4 September 2026.
No rule, guidance or reported case found as of 4 September 2026. No generative-AI guidance from the Bahrain Bar Society was located.
No rule, guidance or reported case found as of 4 September 2026. No Bahraini decision sanctioning a lawyer for AI-fabricated citations was located.
No rule, guidance or reported case found as of 4 September 2026. BCDR's arbitration rules (2022) and mediation rules (2019) contain no AI provisions; a site search found only a 2024 research paper and conference participation, not institutional guidance.
No mandatory requirement for legal professionals as of 4 September 2026. The iGA policy's third pillar requires government entities to run AI awareness and training for their own employees; Bahraini judges and prosecutors attended voluntary UNESCO training in December 2024.
Official documents recorded for Bahrain (1)
- General Policy for the Use of Artificial Intelligence, Version 1.0
iGA (Bahrain) · revised 2025-05-20 · verified 2026-09-04
Court incidents on the record in Bahrain
- Sheppard v Jillion LLC [2025] QIC (E) 3 (CTFIC0033/2025)2025-11-12 Other
Cite this page
SafeLegalAI Legal AI Regulation Tracker, "Bahrain" (updated 2026-09-04, verified 2026-09-04), https://safelegalai.com/regulation/country/bh (accessed 2026-09-04). Data: CC BY 4.0.
SafeLegalAI is a research publication by Cognesio LLP, not a law firm. Nothing here is legal advice, and no lawyer–client relationship arises from reading it. Rules change; always check the official document linked on each record and take advice on your own situation. Researched and drafted with AI assistance; verified against primary sources and edited by Cognesio LLP. The linked official documents are the record — our summaries are not the law and are not legal advice.
- iGA — General Policy for the Use of Artificial Intelligence, Version 1.0 (20 May 2025)
- Daily Tribune — AI regulation bill faces pushback as Bahrain eyes practical alternatives (23 November 2024)
- Daily Tribune — 10-year jail term for misusing AI (draft AI law before Parliament)
- UNESCO — Judicial professionals from the Arab region trained on AI and the rule of law (December 2024)
- Bahrain Chamber for Dispute Resolution (BCDR)