The Cyber and Data Protection Act provides for a safe harbour regime in Zimbabwe. This is provided for in Section 379C(1), which states that an ISP shall not be responsible or liable for a crime if they have not initiated the transmission, selected the receiver of the transmission and/or modified the information contained in the transmission. Most importantly, the Act provides that the ISPs will not be liable for data carried on their platforms and those of intermediaries if they remove it after a court order. In addition, ISPs and intermediaries will not be liable if they remove the information upon their realisation or gain knowledge that the information is illegal.

The Cyber and Data Protection Act provides for a safe harbour regime in Zimbabwe. This is provided for in Section 379C(1), which states that an ISP shall not be responsible or liable for a crime if they have not initiated the transmission, selected the receiver of the transmission and/or modified the information contained in the transmission. Most importantly, the Act provides that the ISPs will not be liable for data carried on their platforms and those of intermediaries if they remove it after a court order. In addition, ISPs and intermediaries will not be liable if they remove the information upon their realisation or gain knowledge that the information is illegal.

According to Art. 5.1 of the Postal and Telecommunications (Subscriber Registration) Regulations, 2013. Telecommunications providers must each establish a subscriber database of all SIM card holders, connecting their phone number to their name, address, gender, nationality, and passport or ID number. The law obliges service providers to regularly hand over copies of this data to the government, which will then establish its own central subscriber information database.

The indicator "6.2.4 - Government Internet shut down in practice" of the V-Dem Dataset, which measures whether the government has the technical capacity to actively make internet service cease, thus interrupting domestic access to the internet or whether the government has decided to do so, has a score of 3 in Zimbabwe for the year 2023. This corresponds to "Rarely but there have been a few occasions throughout the year when the government shut down domestic access to Internet."

According to Art. 7.1 of the Broadcasting Services Act, no person may provide a broadcasting service or operate as a signal carrier in Zimbabwe without a broadcasting licence or a signal carrier licence. Art. 7.2 specifies that a broadcasting licence authorises the licensee to offer various types of broadcasting services, including narrowcasting, datacasting, and webcasting. However, under Art. 8.1, a broadcasting licence can only be issued to individuals who are citizens of Zimbabwe or to a corporate entity in which a controlling interest is held, whether directly or indirectly, by one or more Zimbabwean citizens.
Art. 7 of Broadcasting Services (Licensing and Content) Regulations, 2004 provides the licensing requirements for narrowcasting, datacasting, and webcasting. It is reported that the Zimbabwean authorities might use this section to require licensing fees for video-on-demand and live-streaming services (YouTube, Facebook, Netflix, etc.), and, as a result, smaller companies have to obtain licenses ranging from USD 2,500 to USD 20,000.

The Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets (General) Regulations 2018 (Section 8.2) provides for a margin of preference of up to 15% of the procurement goods and 7.5% of service contracts to domestic suppliers or manufacturers. Within these prescribed limits, preference may be given to bidders that are domestic suppliers or manufacturers, and an extra preference, within the prescribed limits, may be given to women or entities controlled predominantly by women or to Zimbabwean universities or polytechnics.

Zimbabwe has not appended the World Trade Organization (WTO) Telecom Reference Paper to its schedule of commitments.

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

According to Art. 7.1 of the Broadcasting Services Act, no person shall provide a broadcasting service or operate as a signal carrier in Zimbabwe except in accordance with a broadcasting licence or a signal carrier licence. A broadcasting licence shall authorise the licensee to provide several classes of broadcasting services, including narrowcasting, datacasting, and webcasting (Art. 7.2). However, pursuant to Art. 8.1, a broadcasting licence shall be issued only to individuals who are citizens of Zimbabwe or to a corporate body in which a controlling interest is held, whether through any individual, company association or otherwise, by one or more individuals who are citizens of Zimbabwe.

According to Section 36 of the Postal and Telecommunications Act, the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority issues telecommunications licenses only to legal entities in which Zimbabwean citizens hold a "controlling interest", directly or indirectly. However, a license may be issued to a legal entity without such a majority shareholding, provided that within a period set out in the license, one or more such persons acquire a majority shareholding. As established in the same article, a "controlling interest" in a legal entity means that any of the following conditions are met: holding a majority of the shares of the entity; the shares represent more than 50% of the share capital of the entity; the shares are worth more than 50% of the share capital of the entity; or the shares give their holders a majority or a preponderance of votes in the affairs of the entity.

Zimbabwe screens FDI through the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA) in liaison with relevant line ministries to confirm compliance with the country’s laws. Section 3 of Act No. 10/2019 establishes the ZIDA as a legal person. The government created the ZIDA to oversee the licensing and implementation of investment projects in the country. Part V of Act No. 10/2019 provides investors with the ability to obtain investment licences. ZIDA has established a one-stop investment services centre (OSISC, section 5 of the Act), which houses several agencies that play a role in the licensing, establishment, and implementation of investment projects.

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

Zimbabwe 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. Part III of the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act lists the exceptions, which include the use with purposes of research or private study, educational use of copyright material, criticism, review, or news reporting, among others.

It is reported that copyright is not adequately enforced online in Zimbabwe. Pirating of books, videos, music, and computer software is reported to be common in the country.

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