The Electronic Transactions Act, 2003 establishes a safe harbour regime for intermediaries beyond copyright infringement. According to Art. 19 of the Act, an intermediary shall not be subject to any civil or criminal liability in respect of third-party information contained in an electronic communication for which such intermediary is only providing access and he: (i) has no actual knowledge that the information gives rise to civil or criminal liability; (ii)is not aware of any facts or circumstances from which the likelihood of civil or criminal liability in respect of the information ought reasonably to have been known; (iii) follows the takedown procedure set out in section 20 when acquires knowledge that the information gives rise to civil or criminal liability or becomes aware of facts or circumstances from which the likelihood of civil or criminal liability in respect of the information ought reasonably to have been known.

It is reported that The Bahamas imposes an identity requirement for SIM registration. Anyone wanting to purchase a SIM card has to provide their national ID card, or a passport in case of foreigners.

According to Art. 22.1 of the Data Protection (Privacy of Personal Information) Act 2003, personal data processed by a data processor shall not be disclosed by him, or by an employee or agent of his, without the prior authority of the data controller on behalf of whom the data are processed. In addition, according to Art. 23.1, a person who obtains access to personal data or or and discloses this information without the prior authority of the data controller or data processor by whom the data are kept, shall be guilty of an offence. According to Art. 13, any restrictions on or exceptions to the disclosure of personal data do not apply if the disclosure is: (i) required by or under any enactment or by a rule of law or order of a court; (ii) required in the interests of protecting the international relations of The Bahamas; (iii) in the opinion of the Minister or the Minister of National Security required for the purpose of safeguarding the security of The Bahamas; (iv) required for the purpose of preventing, detecting or investigating offences, apprehending or prosecuting offenders or assessing or collecting any tax, duty or other moneys owed or payable to the Government, statutory corporation, public body, or a local authority, in any case in which the application of those restrictions would be likely to prejudice any of the matters aforesaid; among others.

According to Art. 17.1 of the Data Protection (Privacy of Personal Information) Act 2003, there is a prohibition to transfer personal data outside the Bahamas when there is a failure to provide protection either by contract or otherwise equivalent to that provided under the Act. Under Art. 17.8 of the Act and the Data Protection Commisioners Guidelines, data transfers are permitted where: (i) an adequate level of protection is afforded by a contract; (ii) the transfer is required or authorised by or under any enactment, or required by any convention or other instrument imposing an international obligation on the Bahamas; (iii) the transfer is made pursuant to the consent (express or implied) of the data subject; (iv) the transfer is necessary for the performance of a contract between the data controller and the data subject; among others.

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

The Data Protection (Privacy of Personal Information) Act 2003 provides a comprehensive regime of data protection in the Bahamas. The Act addresses specific elements of data protection, including: rights of access and deletion (Art. 8); establishment of the data protection authority (Art. 15); data transfers (Art. 17); among others.

According to Art. 39 of the Communications Act, the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) may at any time determine that a licensee is an Significant Market Power (SMP) licensee if the licensee, individually or with others, enjoys a position of economic strength which enables it to hinder the maintenance of effective competition on the relevant market by allowing it to behave to an appreciable extent independently of its competitors, consumers and subscribers. Under Art. 40.1 the URCA may impose specific conditions on licensees determined to have SMP in the relevant market or relevant markets, including obligations relating to (i) cost recovery and price controls, including obligations for cost orientation of prices and obligations concerning cost accounting systems; and (ii) the submission of regulatory accounts or financial statements separating out the key business activities of the licensee.

The Bahamas has not appended the World Trade Organization (WTO) Telecom Reference Paper to its schedule of commitments. In fact, the country is not a member of the WTO.

It is reported that the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA), the executive authority for the supervision and administration of services in the telecommunications sector, is independent from the government in the decision-making process.

The Bahamas Telecommunications Company Limited (BTC) is the largest provider of electronic communications services in the Bahamas and operates fixed, mobile and broadband networks. In April 2011, BTC was partially privatized when Cable and Wireless Communications acquired a 51% stake in the company.
The second mobile telecommunications company licensed in The Bahamas is "Be Aliv Limited" (“Aliv”), which is owned by Cable Bahamas Ltd with a 48.25% shareholding and HoldingCo2015 Limited with the remaining 51.75% of the shares, which is fully owned by the Government of The Bahamas.

The Bahamas lacks a comprehensive framework in place that provides effective protection of trade secrets, but there are limited measures addressing some issues related to them. According to Art. 23 of the Freedom of Information Act 2017, a record is exempt from disclosure to the public if such disclosure relates to information acquired by a public authority from business, commercial or financial undertakings, and (a) the information relates to trade secrets or other matters of business, commercial or financial nature; or (ii) the disclosure of the information would be likely to expose the undertaking to a disadvantage. Moreover, it is reported that trade secrets may be protected by contract or by common law.

According to Art. 2.1 of the Infrastructure Sharing Regulations, upon written request by an infrastructure applicant to an infrastructure provider, the infrastructure applicant shall provide access to its facilities and the infrastructure provider shall not unreasonably refuse or delay such access. In addition, under Art. 2.2, the infrastructure provider shall negotiate in good faith with the infrastructure applicant on matters relating to access to the facilities and, once granted, shall not withdraw or impede such agreed access, except in the following circumstances: (i) where authorized by the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA); (ii) pursuant to a dispute resolution process under Part 6 of these Regulations; or (iii) by order made by the Public Utilities Appeal Tribunal or a court of law.

The Bahamas has a clear regime of copyright exceptions that follows the fair dealing model, which enables the lawful use of copyrighted work by others without obtaining permission. Part VII of the Copyright Act lists the exceptions, which include: (i) research; (ii) private study; (iii) criticism; among others.

The Bahamas has not signed the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty.

The Bahamas has not signed the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Performances and Phonograms Treaty.