Pursuant to Art. 12 of Law No. 1240 on Foreign Investment, foreign investors enjoy the same rights and the same means of exercising those rights as Nicaraguan investors. The Act does not establish any statutory limitation on foreign equity participation. Law No. 1240 repealed Law No. 344 on the Promotion of Foreign Investment, which likewise did not impose foreign equity caps.

Pursuant to Art. 92 of Law No. 354 on Patents, Utility Models, and Industrial Designs, where an applicant or rights holder under the Law is domiciled outside Nicaragua, they must be represented by an agent domiciled in Nicaragua.

Nicaragua is a party to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

Nicaragua has a copyright regime governed by Law No. 312. However, the exceptions do not follow the fair use or fair dealing model, which limits the lawful use of copyrighted works by others. Arts. 31-43 outline the exceptions, including the reproduction of copyrighted works by means of reprography for teaching purposes, the reproduction of isolated articles published in the press or short extracts from a work, the reproduction of works for private use by the blind, and the use of a work for parody purposes, among others.

Copyright is not adequately enforced online in Nicaragua. It is reported that there are concerns about optical discs, broadcast media piracy, the use of unlicensed software, and inadequate IP enforcement in the country.

Nicaragua has ratified the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty.

Nicaragua is a signatory of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Information Technology Agreement (ITA) of 1996 but is not a signatory of its 2015 expansion (ITA II).

Under Art. 167 of Presidential Decree No. 07-2025, foreign contractors may subcontract part of the services for which they are responsible only where they commit to providing capacity-building and technology transfer to national subcontractors. The Decree further provides that subcontracting should preferably be carried out with micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises. Moreover, pursuant to Section 100, the evaluation of bids is conducted in two stages, first a technical assessment and subsequently an economic assessment. At the technical stage, the contracting entity assesses proposals against qualitative factors, including knowledge transfer and the participation of nationals.

Pursuant to Art. 2 of Law No. 1238 on State Administrative Contracts, procurement procedures may be conducted on an exclusive basis for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Art. 59 of the Law’s implementing regulation (Presidential Decree No. 07-2025) further provides that the governing authority, through the General Directorate of State Procurement, shall establish criteria to promote and facilitate MSME participation, including instruments such as: dividing procurement by geographic zones, imposing time limits, adopting measures to prevent market concentration in a single supplier, and other measures that support the objective of ensuring free competition and avoiding monopolies.

Pursuant to Section 33(e) of Presidential Decree No. 07-2025, foreign natural or legal persons seeking to contract with State entities must demonstrate their legal capacity through the legal-status documentation mandatorily required in the tender dossier, as a condition of legality and eligibility. In particular, for non-resident foreign persons, the Decree requires evidence of legal existence in the country of origin and the appointment of a legal representative in Nicaragua.

In Namibia, type approval procedures for telecommunications equipment are regulated by the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN). The conformity requirements reportedly align closely with those of the European Union. The homologation process does not mandate local laboratory testing or engagement with local representatives, as Namibia currently lacks ISO 17000-certified laboratories for conducting these tests. Instead, the regulations permit acceptance of test results from accredited laboratories abroad, provided the necessary supporting documentation is submitted to CRAN.
Under Section 8 of the Regulations in respect of Type Approval and Technical Standards for Telecommunications Equipment, CRAN may accept a declaration of conformity from an applicant if it is accompanied by a certified copy of test reports and data issued by an accredited test laboratory, confirming that the telecommunications equipment for which type approval is sought meets the applicable technical standards.

The Electronic Transactions Act, Chapter 5, requires accreditation of security services and products including those which are meant to encrypt or decrypt data. This accreditation may involve the technical analysis of the services. The specific requirements for such technical analysis are not listed.

Namibia does not implement any de minimis threshold, which is the minimum value of goods below which customs do not charge duties.