Bhutan
AI behavior law: bot and agent disclosure, crawler and training-data rules, automated-agent transactions, and algorithmic decision-making.
Summary
Bhutan has no dedicated cybercrime statute and no standalone data-protection law as of the as_of_date. Computer-related offences are addressed through the Penal Code of Bhutan (§§472-477, covering tampering with and unlawful possession of computer materials) and the Information, Communications and Media Act 2018 (ICMA), which governs ICT services, e-commerce, and online content through the Bhutan InfoComm and Media Authority (BICMA). The ICMA 2018 (replacing ICMA 2006) includes some privacy provisions (Section 386 on personal data handling and deletion, online privacy, unsolicited email, payment security) but lacks a standalone data protection law or dedicated data protection authority. BICMA is empowered to order blocking of unlawful online content. Chapter 22 of ICMA 2018 covers offences and penalties; Sections 443-444 provide search and seizure powers for cybercrime investigations. A GovTech-led review of the ICMA is underway to address cybercrime, data misuse, and social media issues. The Royal Monetary Authority (RMA) issued Guidelines on Data Privacy and Data Protection 2021 for the financial sector. Bhutan has no TDM copyright exception and no relevant case law on automated web access. The legal framework for web crawling is minimal and unclear; human review required.
Automated-access legality
Carried forward from the crawler-law index. Governs whether automated clients may access public websites in this jurisdiction.
| Dimension | Value |
|---|---|
| Authorization test | unsettled |
| Public-page carve-out | unsettled |
| Terms-of-service browsewrap enforceable | unsettled |
| Terms-of-service clickwrap enforceable | unsettled |
| Copyright exception model | fair dealing narrow |
| Text and data mining — commercial status | unsettled |
| Text and data mining — opt-out mechanism | none |
| robots.txt legal weight | non binding notice |
| AI training-specific law | none |
| Privacy regime | none (ICMA 2018 s.386 data-handling provision; RMA Data Privacy Guidelines 2021 for financial sector only; no standalone data protection law) |
| Trespass to chattels | not recognized |
Last reviewed: 2026-05-24. Confidence: low. Not legal advice.