Zambia has no rules applicable to the protection of trade secrets.

It is reported that there is an obligation for passive infrastructure sharing in Zambia to deliver telecom services to end users. It is practiced in the mobile sector and in the fixed sector based on commercial agreements.

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

It is reported that copyright is not adequately enforced online in Zambia. The rate of unlicensed software installation in the country was 80% in 2017 (above the 56% rate of the Middle Eastern and African countries), for an estimated commercial value of USD 4 million.

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

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

Zambia 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. Section 21 of the Copyright Act provides for a wide list of copyright exceptions including for:
- Private study or for the purposes of research done by an individual for his personal purposes, otherwise than for profit;
- Criticism or review, whether of that work or any other work, provided there is a sufficient acknowledgement;
- Reporting current events.

According to Art. 303 of the Companies Act, 2017 (No. 10 of 2017), a foreign company shall appoint at least one local director. This restriction has been in place since the Companies Act of 1994 (Art. 248).

Zambia is not a party to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) nor does it have observer status.

Section 91 of the Public Procurement Act provides a preference and reservation scheme to citizens or local suppliers, bidders offering goods or works and services with local content. Certain procurement requirements are also restricted to target groups (SMEs, women, youths, persons with disabilities). Greater preference is also granted where citizens or local suppliers form part of a joint venture or association agreement than where they are subcontracted by foreign suppliers. The actual margin for preference to be applied is not fixed. It is the mandate of the Procurement Authority in liaison with the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission, other relevant Government departments, and statutory bodies, to set the margins.

There is a National Local Content Strategy 2018-2022 that says "Government policy requires a minimum of 35% utilization of local inputs and/or products in the production and provision of goods and services throughout the economy".

Section 89.4 of the Public Procurement Act provides that a procuring entity may exclude a foreign bidder from participating in procurement proceedings where the procurement is subject to a reservation scheme in accordance with Section 91. A procuring entity can reserve or set aside certain procurement requirements for a target group, by restricting bidding to the target group (Section 91(1)(c)). Moreover, procurement can exclude foreigners in cases of open national bidding used in accordance with Section 39 and of open national selection used in accordance with Section 41.

Zambia is not a signatory of the 1996 World Trade Organization (WTO) Information Technology Agreement (ITA) nor the 2015 expansion (ITA II).

Tanzania has adopted national legislation based on or influenced by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Electronic Commerce.