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

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

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

According to Art. 82.1 of the Commercial Code No. 1243/2021 and Art. 22.1 of the Commercial Registration & Licensing Proclamation No. 980/2016, any Ethiopian or foreign person or company carrying out commercial activities within Ethiopia shall be registered and then licensed in the country. In addition, according to Art. 40 of the Commercial Registration and Licensing Proclamation No. 980/2016, any foreign chamber of commerce may open its branch office in Ethiopia upon presenting a certificate of legal personality issued in the country of registration, memorandum, and article of association submitted there and their detailed activities in Ethiopia and upon approval getting registered with the Ministry. However, foreign investors who invest in Ethiopia and from an association, that association shall be registered by the authority that is legally established to administer investment at the federal level.

Ethiopia has a general consumer protection law (Trade Competition and Consumers Protection Proclamation No. 813/2013). However, it is not clear whether it applies to online transactions.

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

It is reported that the national standards for payment security deviate from international standards as there is no clearly prescribed standard that financial institutions need to apply. The laws that regulate the banking or payment systems in Ethiopia do not refer to international standards such as ISO/IEC, EMV, payment token or 3D Secure. Furthermore, neither the National Digital Payment Strategy nor the Revised Bank Risk Management Guideline of the National Bank of Ethiopia explicitly state that the above mentioned international standards are applied locally.

According to Art. 41 of the Electronic Transaction Proclamation, e-commerce operators are regarded as one form of commercial entity and hence the laws that regulate other commercial activities apply, including the Commercial Code which requires a licence to operate. According to Art. 82.1 of the Commercial Code No. 1243/ 2021 and Arts. 5.1 and 22 of the Commercial Registration & Licensing Proclamation No. 980/2016, any Ethiopian or foreign person or company carrying out commercial activities within Ethiopia shall be registered and then licensed in the country.

It is reported that importers face difficulty in obtaining foreign exchange, particularly those that import goods for domestic sale. The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) administers a strict foreign currency regulatory regime. Furthermore, while larger firms, state-owned enterprises, and manufacturing industries are reported to have not faced major problems in obtaining foreign exchange, the remaining firms face burdensome delays in arranging trade-related payments. An importer must apply for an import permit and obtain a letter of credit for the total value of the imports before an order can be placed.

The legal framework on standards does not allow for self-certification for radio transmission, electromagnetic interference (EMI) or electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) through a Supplier Declaration of Conformity (SDoC) for both domestic and foreign business. However, Article 23 (5) of the Communications Proclamation No. 1148/2019 states that the Authority may conduct a stakeholder consultation to permit the importation and use of radiocommunication and telecommunications equipment that has been approved by internationally recognized testing bodies that the Authority may designate by a Directive.

According to Art. 3 of the Telecom Fraud Offences Proclamation, the import, assembly, sale, manufacturing or even use of of any telecom equipment (which includes any apparatus and software used for telecom services) without a prior permit from the government is prohibited. Failure to comply with this rule is a crime punishable with imprisonment and a fine.

It is reported that while it is not mandated by law, joint ventures with state-owned enterprises, present informal requirements of incorporating up to 30 percent of domestic content in goods and/or technology.

Proclamation 808/2013 mandates the Information Network Security Agency (INSA) to control the import and export of information technologies, building an IT testing and evaluation laboratory center and regulating cryptographic products and their transactions.

Importing of telecommunication equipment requires authorization by the government prior to importing. The Communication Services Proclamation No. 1148, under Art. 23, gives broad powers to the Ethiopian Communication Authority to regulate the importing of any telecommunication equipment to the country. It is prohibited to manufacture, import, or distribute radiocommunications and telecommunications equipment that requires the Authority’s technical efficacy assurance, without obtaining prior approval of the Authority.