As per the requirements of the Law on Amendments and Additions to Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Information and Communications (2017), users have been required to identify themselves using government-issued digital signature technology or SMS verification in order to comment on domestic websites. Failure to enforce the rule after April 2018 can lead to fines. The law requires website operators to make it mandatory for users to enter into a formal agreement before they are permitted to post comments on local websites. The information provided in the agreement needs to be retained by the website and handed over to the authorities whenever asked.

Kazakhstan has not adopted national legislation based on or influenced by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Electronic Signatures.

Under Art. 41-1(1-1), (2) and (3)(1) of Law No. 567-II on Communications, telecommunications operators must restrict access to information prohibited by law or by a final court decision when instructed by the competent authority. Operators must implement such instructions within no more than two hours. Art. 637(1)(9-5) of the Code of Administrative Offences imposes fines where a communications operator provides access to prohibited information. It is reported that this framework also requires ISPs to monitor content passing through their networks and determine whether problematic material should be restricted, although the legislation does not specify how such monitoring is to be carried out.

It is reported that the government routinely blocks or filters online content and may compel ISPs to restrict access to material considered unlawful; if providers do not comply promptly, the State Technical Service may implement the block directly. Website blocking reportedly continued during the June 2024–May 2025 coverage period. At least 17 media websites, several human-rights and petition websites, and 73 circumvention-tool websites, including commercial VPN services such as NordVPN, ExpressVPN, ProtonVPN, TunnelBear and Surfshark, were reportedly subject to coordinated blocking across Kazakhstani networks, mainly through TLS interference.

The indicator "7.2.4 - Government Internet shut down in practice" of the V-Dem Dataset, which measures whether the government has the technical capacity to actively make internet service cease, thus interrupting domestic access to the internet or whether the government has decided to do so, has a score of 2 in Kazakhstan for the year 2025. This corresponds to "The government shut down domestic access to the Internet several times this year."

Appendix No. 2 to the Decision of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission No. 30 of 21 April 2015 (“On Measures of Non-Tariff Regulation”) sets out the Union-wide list of goods restricted for import into the customs territory of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), including Kazakhstan. The list includes, among others, (i) radio-electronic and high-frequency equipment for civilian use—devices for transmitting or receiving voice, images, or data (e.g., headings in HS 8471, 8517–8519, 8521, 8525–8528, 8531, and certain Chapter 90 items); (ii) systems and receivers for technical radio monitoring and for detecting sources of electromagnetic emissions (e.g., HS 8526–8527); and (iii) encryption (cryptographic) means, including computing machines and parts with cryptographic functions, computer devices incorporating encryption, and standalone cryptographic software (selected subheadings of HS 8471/8473 and 8523).

According to Art. 7.6 of the Informatisation Law, the central executive body carrying out state regulation in the field of the electronic industry is tasked with establishing a unified register of trusted software and electronic products. According to Art. 54.3.1, for the purposes of state security, only approved software may be used for public procurement and for critical information and communication infrastructure, whether state-owned or private, including telecommunication infrastructure.
The "Rules for the Formation and Maintenance of a Register of Trusted Software and Electronics Industry Products, as well as Criteria for Including Software and Electronics Industry Products in the Register of Trusted Software and Electronics Industry Products" previously required software to meet a minimum in-country value share of 70%, including under para. 10(3) of the version restated by Order No. 354/НҚ, published in October 2022. Order No. 829/НҚ, published in December 2024, subsequently reintroduced the localisation requirement, increasing the minimum share to 80% and requiring compliance to be evidenced through an industrial certificate in 2025. Order No. 567/НҚ, published in November 2025, maintained the 80% threshold but abolished the industrial-certificate requirement with effect from January 2026.

Appendix No. 2 to the Decision of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission No. 30 of 21 April 2015 (“On Measures of Non-Tariff Regulation”) sets out the Union-wide list of goods restricted for export from the customs territory of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), including Kazakhstan. The list includes, among others, (i) radio-electronic and high-frequency equipment for civilian use—devices for transmitting or receiving voice, images, or data (e.g., headings in HS 8471, 8517–8519, 8521, 8525–8528, 8531, and certain Chapter 90 items); (ii) systems and receivers for technical radio monitoring and for detecting sources of electromagnetic emissions (e.g., HS 8526–8527); and (iii) encryption (cryptographic) means, including computing machines and parts with cryptographic functions, computer devices incorporating encryption, and standalone cryptographic software (selected subheadings of HS 8471/8473 and 8523).

Art. 16 of Law No. 567-II requires communications equipment used on Kazakhstan’s telecommunications networks to undergo conformity assessment. Under Art. 7 of EAEU Technical Regulation TR CU 020/2011, a declaration of conformity based on the applicant’s own evidence is available for certain equipment. However, a manufacturer established outside the EAEU cannot act as the applicant and must use an EAEU-established authorised representative or importer. Any required certification or testing must be performed by bodies or laboratories included in the EAEU Unified Register.

Order No. 111/НҚ requires e-government information systems and critical information and communication infrastructure to undergo information-security testing by the State Technical Service or an accredited testing laboratory. Testing includes source-code analysis, security-function and load testing, review of network infrastructure, and assessment of information-security processes. Order No. 602/НҚ updated the source-code analysis requirements, including the use of specified international vulnerability classifications and databases.

Kazakhstan has not joined any agreement with binding commitments to open transfers of data across borders.

According to Art. 7 of Law No. 167-VІ SAM on Monetary Regulation and Foreign Exchange Control (which repealed Law No. 57 of 2005 on Monetary Regulation in July 2018), the use of a local bank is mandatory for settlements in foreign currency between residents of the KR and non-residents. Exceptions are settlements made from a foreign bank account of a non-resident, carried out on account of the performance of obligations of a resident (e.g. when a foreign parent company pays its local branch in the KR) and settlements with non-residents made from the resident's account in a foreign bank. Also, settlements between residents of the KR (including local branches of foreign non-financial legal entities considered residents) must be made in local currency.

Law No. No. 94-V provides a comprehensive regime of data protection in Kazakhstan. The Personal Data Law provides general regulations on the collection and processing of personal data and notably includes broad requirements for data localisation. In addition, Law No. 347-VI of 25 June 2020 on "Amendments and Additions to Some Legislative Acts on the Regulation of Digital Technologies" was introduced in July 2020, significantly extending data protection obligations for organisations. Law No. 347-VI introduces, among other things, further requirements for data collection and processing, obligations for data operators (similar to data processors), and redefines key concepts. Law No. 347-VI further establishes the competency of the data protection authority, including its powers and role.

Kazakhstan ratified the Treaty on the Customs Code of the Eurasian Economic Union through Law No. 115-VI. Pursuant to Art. 136(2) of the Customs Code, no obligation to pay import customs duties or taxes arises for goods placed under the customs procedure of release for internal consumption where the goods are shipped from a single consignor to a single consignee under one transport document, and their total customs value does not exceed the equivalent of EUR 200. For the purpose of determining this threshold, transportation, loading, unloading, transhipment and insurance costs incurred up to the place of arrival are excluded from the customs value.

Under Art. 15(1)(2) of Law No. 567-II “On Communications” of 5 July 2004, telecommunications operators and/or owners of communications networks are required to collect and retain service information relating to subscribers and/or users of communications services. This obligation is implemented through Order No. 220/НҚ of 30 June 2023, which approved the Rules for the Collection and Storage by Telecom Operators of Service Information on Subscribers and/or Users of Communication Services.
The Rules require telecommunications operators to retain the relevant service information for a period of two years, after which it must be destroyed. The information subject to retention includes subscriber numbers, IIN/BIN identifiers, device identification codes, billing information, the location of subscriber devices, data-network addresses, addresses and identifiers of internet resources accessed, and data-transmission protocols.