Art. 30 of the Data Protection Act provides that a data controller may not transfer personal data to a country outside the country unless one of the following conditions is met:
- The personal data will be received solely in countries that provide an adequate level of protection;
- The recipient is an international organisation whose policies and administrative and technical measures afford an adequate level of protection;
- The recipient is subject to a law, binding corporate rules, contractual clauses, code of conduct, certification mechanism or other measures that afford an adequate level of protection; or
- The transfer meets one of the several criteria in Art. 31, which include consent of the data subject and the necessity of the processing for the entering into or performance of a contract with the data subject.

Somalia has not joined any agreement committing to open transfer of cross-border data flows.

The Data Protection Act provides a comprehensive regime of data protection in Somalia. The Act applies to the processing of personal data and provides principles governing such processing, including legal bases. In line with international norms, the Act also provides data subject rights, including the right to access, correct, delete, and object. Moreover, the Act establishes data controller obligations such as breach notification, the conducting of Data Protection Impact Assessments, vendor management, and restrictions on cross-border transfers.

It is reported that Somalia has neither a patent nor an industrial design registration system, and that the only available means of seeking protection is the publication of a “cautionary notice” in a local newspaper. The Constitution contains no specific provisions on the protection or enforcement of intellectual property, and there is, moreover, no formal legislation governing intellectual property rights in the country.

It is reported that Somalia currently lacks an institutional framework for the enforcement of intellectual property rights, including patents. Furthermore, although Somalia is a member of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO), it has not yet acceded to the relevant ARIPO protocols, meaning that patents granted by ARIPO have no legal effect in Somalia.

Somalia is not a party to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

Somalia has enacted the Copyright Law (Law No. 66 of 7 September 1977). However, there is no indication that implementing regulations have ever been promulgated to operationalise the law.

Somalia currently lacks an effective institutional framework for the protection and enforcement of copyright. Although the then Somali Democratic Republic adopted a Copyright Law (Law No. 66 of 7 September 1977), this statute makes copyright protection conditional on registration, and there is neither a functioning copyright registration office nor a competent enforcement authority. As a result, copyright protection in practice – including online enforcement – remains highly uncertain and difficult to secure.

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

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

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

It is reported that there is no obligation for passive infrastructure sharing in Somalia to deliver telecom services to end users. However, it is practised in both the mobile and fixed sectors based on commercial agreements. In addition, some telecom companies and internet providers, such as Somtel, Telesom, and Somcable, agreed with the government to share the landing and operation of submarine cables to enter the country.

Somalia is not a signatory of the 1996 World Trade Organization (WTO) Information Technology Agreement (ITA) nor the 2015 expansion (ITA II). Somalia is not a member of the WTO but holds observer status.

Art. 34 of the Public Procurement, Concessions and Disposal Act establishes a margin of domestic preference. A Procuring Entity may grant a margin of domestic preference in the evaluation of bids under open competitive bidding to (a) Bids offering goods that are manufactured, mined, extracted, or grown in the Federal Republic of Somalia when compared to bids offering goods manufactured, mined, extracted or grown in a foreign country; and (b) Bids by domestic contractors when compared to bids offered by foreign contractors. The margin of domestic preference shall be 15% for goods and 10% for contractors, which shall be stated in the bidding documents.
When there is an interest in the development of a target group of providers, a community, or a sub-sector of the economy, the Procuring Entity may decide to limit participation by applying a preference scheme in its procurement proceedings.