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

The DRC lacks a comprehensive regime for the protection of trade secrets.

It is reported that there is an obligation for passive infrastructure sharing in the Democratic Republic of Congo to deliver telecom services to end users. It is practised in both the mobile and fixed sectors based on commercial agreements.

According to Art. 40 of Law No. 20/017 on Telecommunications and Information and Communication Technologies, the legal entity benefiting from a licence must adopt the form of a Société Anonyme (‘S.A’). Without prejudice to agreements and conventions to which the Congolese State is a party, at least thirty per cent (30%) of the share capital of the aforementioned company must be allocated as follows:
- At least 25% must be held by Congolese natural or legal persons whose shares are owned by Congolese natural persons. This subscription must be paid within three years of the company’s incorporation.
- 5% is reserved for Congolese employees of the company.
In the event that the 30% threshold mentioned above is not met, the company may still be incorporated, provided the share reserved for Congolese workers is guaranteed.

The incumbent telecom provider, Société Congolaise des Postes et Télécommunication (SCPT), is a state-owned enterprise that enjoys temporary exclusivity in owning and exclusively operating the national backbone. Temporary exclusivity also consists of owning the reference network to which any operator concessionaire of public service is required to interconnect and through which it passes its national and international traffic.
Therefore, any telecommunications network established or used for public needs is required to interconnect with the network of the public operator through which all national networks are interconnected.

It is reported that The Democratic Republic of Congo has established accounting separation by law for the operators with significant market power. However, functional separation for operators with significant market power is not required by law.

According to Art. 22 of Law No. 20/017, any natural or legal person governed by Congolese law may provide telecommunications services, provided they fulfil the following conditions: (i) have a residence, domicile, or registered head office in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; (ii) provide proof of registration in the Trade and Personal Property Credit Register (RCCM); and (iii) demonstrate the technical and financial capacity to operate under the scheme applied for.
Art. 91 of Law No. 20/017, which resembles Art. 50 of the repealed Law No. 013/2002 on Telecommunications states that intermediaries must cooperate with law enforcement authorities in investigations. The refusal to grant the request of the authority may lead to the temporary or definitive withdrawal of the operating license or other penalties. This buttresses Art. 4 of Decree-Law 1-61, which provides that when it is a matter of national security, refusal to cooperate with law enforcement implies complicity and a "presumption of guilt".

With the Law No. 20/017 of 2020, which governs the telecommunications sector, the government is given the power to take over the means of communication in the interest of national security. Art. 125 provides that the State may prohibit the use of telecommunication facilities, in full or in part, for any period of time, as it deems fit, in the interests of public security or national defence, the public telecommunications service, or for any other reason. In June 2018, the Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and Information signed a Ministerial Order strengthening the control of online media (Ministerial Order No 011/CAB/M-CM/LOM/2018).

The Democratic Republic of Congo has only partially appended the World Trade Organization (WTO) Telecom Reference Paper to its schedule of commitments.

It is reported that the Post and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ARPTC), the executive authority for the supervision and administration of services in the telecommunications sector, is independent from the government in the decision-making process.

The DRC lacks a dedicated organization for screening inbound foreign investment. Instead, this responsibility falls upon the Presidency and various ministries, functioning in a de facto capacity.

Section 201 of the Digital Code stipulates that the transfer of personal data to a third country or international organisation requires prior authorisation from the Personal Data Protection Authority, which also undertakes continuous oversight of such transfers. The recipient must provide a level of protection that is both adequate and equivalent to that prescribed by the Digital Code’s provisions on personal data protection. However, Section 202 permits transfers to jurisdictions lacking adequate protection in specific circumstances, including where the data subject has given explicit consent, where the transfer is necessary for the execution of a contract, or where it is essential to safeguard the vital interests of the data subject or another individual, particularly when the data subject is unable, either physically or legally, to provide consent.

According to Art. 18 of Law No. 82-001 on Industrial Property, non-Congolese patent applicants domiciled abroad are obliged to indicate an address for service with a Congolese agent and to work through them.

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