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

According to Art. 25 of Law No. 058-2015/CNT, at least 51% of the share capital for online press must be held by nationals.

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

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

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

The Consumer Protection Act and the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act provide a comprehensive consumer protection framework that applies to online transactions. The Electronic Communications and Transactions Act also provides for the facilitation and regulation of electronic communications and transactions. The Electronic Records and Evidence Act also recognizes the use of electronic signatures.

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

According to Section 29 of the Electronic Payments Services Regulations, Licensees for Electronic Payment Systems are required to adhere to transaction limits set in Schedule 3 of the regulations. Operating limits for account based payment systems (e-money account, execution of card payment, credit transfers and direct debits) have a monthly aggregate transaction limit within the range of P20,000 (approx. USD 1,750) to P30,000 (approx. USD 2,600) for individual customers; P50,000 (approx. USD 4,350) for SMEs; and for retail agents the monthly aggregate transaction limit is P1,000,000 (approx. USD 87,000).

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

According to Art. 5 of the Type Approval Guidelines 2022, Type Approval applies to anyone who imports, manufactures, uses, or supplies telecommunication or broadcasting equipment for use or sale in Botswana. The person who wants to use or sell this product must register the equipment with Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA), prior to importing, unless the equipment concerned has already been registered in BROCA’s Type Approval Database. According to Art. 6, for registration, the application must be accompanied by a declaration of conformity (DoC) and a full set of test reports confirming compliance with declared conformity. In addition, according to Section 6.5, it is not necessary to submit any other documentation or a sample of the equipment unless requested to do so by BOCRA.
According to Art. 11 of the guidelines, the DoC is a document drawn up by the manufacturer or supplier (wherever located) on company letterhead or stationery and signed by them confirming that the product complies with the regulations and technical specifications that apply in Botswana or their equivalent. In addition, as specified in Art. 10, test results must be obtained from a laboratory that has been accredited by a body that is a member of the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) Mutual Recognition Arrangement. Test results should be included with the application unless BOCRA specifically states in writing that test results are not required. The equipment must be tested for compliance with BROCA’s technical specifications (or equivalent) and should cover areas of Safety, Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC), and Technical Standards. Reference to such compliance must be included in the declaration of conformity submitted with the application.

With the exception of goods originating in Malawi, import permits – issued by Department of International Trade, in the Ministry of Investment, Trade, and Industry – are required for goods entering Botswana directly from outside the Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU). Any public or private body whose product satisfies all the requirements of a Botswana product standard can apply to Botswana Bureau of Standards (BOBS) for the product to be certified. Samples of the product are then tested to verify its conformance to the requirements of the product standard, and if the results are acceptable, the product can then obtain the BOBS certification mark.
Regulations 3 and 6 of the Standards (Import Inspection) provides that a compliance certificate should be obtained for all commodities or goods to be imported into Botswana. The imported commodities should either comply with the Bureau standards or international or foreign standards recognised by the Bureau for the compliance certificate to be issued.

According to Art. 6 of the Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority Act, the Board of the Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority shall make industry regulations for the better carrying out of its responsibilities under this Act including records, form and content for Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card registration to be kept by regulated suppliers. In addition, it is reported that Botswana imposes identity requirement for SIM registration. Anyone wanting to purchase a SIM card has to provide their national ID card, or a passport in case of foreigners, to activate a new prepaid SIM card.

It is reported that a basic legal framework on intermediary liability for copyright infringement is absent in Botswana's law and jurisprudence. Despite Part VIII of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act protects information system service providers from any civil or criminal liability with respect to third-party material stored or transmitted on their platforms if they did not contribute to the material, according to Art. 39 of the Act, nothing in this act shall affect any liability of the service provider under the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act in respect of (the infringement of copyright in any work or other subject matter in which copyright subsists, or (ii) the unauthorized use of any performance, the protection period of which has not expired.

In Botswana, the concept of intermediaries relates to information service providers. Part VIII of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act protects information system service providers from any civil or criminal liability with respect to third-party material stored or transmitted on their platforms if they did not contribute to the material. It is also expected that the information service providers should expeditiously remove or disable access to the infringing content upon receiving a take-down notice.