The Gambia Investment and Export Promotion Agency Act 2015 (GEIPA Act 2015) promotes mutually beneficial foreign investments and permits foreign investors to engage in all lawful economic activities in The Gambia, except activities that are prejudicial to national security, detrimental to the natural environment, public health, or public morality, or which contravene the laws of The Gambia. There is generally no mandatory screening for foreign direct investments. However, for national security purposes, screening may be required if there is suspicion of money laundering or terrorism financing. Screening for such purpose is done by asking for business registration documents and bank statements and verifying requested documents.
Moreover, according to the Gambia Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations 2014, is also required to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for foreign investments that impact on the environment such as the installation of electrical or ICT lines. For EIA, an application for environmental approval is made and a screening form is presented to the applicant to be completed and returned to the Environmental Agency for screening. If the agency is satisfied with that the requirements for environmental impact, screening report and an environmental approval are issued. These general restrictions are not reported to restrict foreign investments.

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

An exclusive preference scheme to facilitate the participation of The Gambian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is reserved for local enterprise procurement valued at a minimum of 1,000,000 Gambian Dalasi for goods, works and services (approx. 19,000 USD) and a maximum of 10,000,000 Gambian Dalasi for goods and works (approx. 190,000 USD) and 15,000,000 Dalasi for services (approx. 280,000 USD) (Schedule 1, GPPAR 2019).

Section 29 (c) of The Gambia Public Procurement Authority Regulations 2019 (GPPAR 2019) provides that special consideration may be made for the procurement of goods, services or works from local companies to promote their growth. Foreign firms are encouraged to enter joint venture with local firms to benefit from bidding preferences. In addition, Section 31 (2) of GPPAR 2019 provides a weighted average price preference for the joint venture of foreign firms with local firms at 7.5% in the procurement evaluation. This weighted average score increases the preference scale for the award of a procurement contract.

The Gambia Public Procurement Act 2014 (GPPA 2014) and The Gambia Public Procurement Authority Regulations 2019 (GPPAR 2019) regulate public procurement in the Gambia. Section 29 (d) of GPPAR 2019 provides that consideration may be made for the procurement of goods, services or works from foreign companies operating in a local government authority or region only when a local company is not present there. Therefore, foreign firms are only invited to bid when there are no local firms.

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

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

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

Gabon does not have a legal framework that applies consumer protection to online transactions.

Gabon has not signed the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts.

According to the Instruction No. 8/GR/2019 issued by the Governor of the Bank of Central African States to facilitate the interpretation and implementation of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) Regulation 02/18/CEMAC/UMAC/CM, for the remote settlement of transactions, including online payments, the limit is 1 million XAF (approx. USD 1,700) per month and per person. According to Arts. 7-8 above this limit, justification needs to be provided before or after operation within 30 days by any means providing acknowledgment thereof. The Instruction provides guidance on the provision of Art. 34 of the Regulation, which implements certain limits for the use of electronic payment instruments outside the CEMAC and applies to the six CEMAC member states, including Gabon.

It is reported that the de minimis threshold, that is the minimum value of goods below which customs do not charge duties, is USD 44, below the 200 USD threshold recommended by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

According to Art. 30 of Ordinance No. 00000015 / PR / 2018 of 23 February 2018 regulating cybersecurity and the fight against cybercrime in the Gabonese Republic, the service provider or the person providing or importing a cryptology service has to make it available to the competent cryptology authority a description of the technical characteristics of this means of cryptology, as well as the source code of the software used.
However, according to Art. 85, Ordinance No 00000014 / PR / 2018 of 23 February 2018 regulating electronic transactions in the Gabonese Republic, the competent authority does not deviate from international technical standards. It publishes in the Official Journal or in any other legal announcement medium, the list of international technical standards on the means and services of cryptology recognized in Gabon.

According to Art. 4 of the Order No. 053 / MMI / MDDEPIP of January 25, 2016 setting the entry into force of the controls relating to the assessment of conformity with the standards of imported products, ICT products are part of the goods which are subject to the pre-shipment conformity assessment (HS2012: Chapters 84; 85; 90 and 95). A third-party certificate is accepted to request a certificate of conformity.
According to Art. 7, imports from countries whose agencies in charge of standardization have a mutual recognition agreement with the Gabonese Standardization Agency (AGANOR) are technically exempt and benefit from a simplified procedure. It is reported that the homologation process in Gabon does not require local laboratory testing or contact with local representatives.