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

The Copyright Act follows a fair dealing regime for copyright with a fairly wide range of exceptions, which enable the lawful use of copyrighted work by others. Arts. 15-24 list the exceptions, which include research or private study by, or the personal or private use by, the person using the work; criticism or review of the work or of another work; reporting on a current event in a newspaper, magazine or similar periodical; or by means of broadcasting or in a cinematograph film; among others.

Namibia has signed the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty in December 1996, but has not ratified it.

Namibia has signed the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty in December 1996, but has not ratified it.

Art. 5 of the Electronic Transactions Act requires accreditation of security services and products, including those which are meant to encrypt or decrypt data. This accreditation may involve the technical analysis of the services. The specific requirements for such technical analysis are not listed. However, this can be interpreted to mean the submission of source codes and algorithms may be necessary.

Namibia does not have a comprehensive framework in place that provides effective protection of trade secrets, but there are limited measures addressing some issues related to them. Section 195(c) of the Industrial Property Act of 2012 restricts the disclosure, acquisition or use in a manner contrary to honest commercial practices of secret information without the written consent of the person lawfully in control of that information.

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

Section 46 of the Communications Act restricts shareholding in the telecommunications sector to a maximum of 49% for foreigners or companies that are not owned and controlled by Namibian citizens.

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

There are three telecommunications providers in Namibia: Telecom Namibia Group, Mobile Telecommunications Namibia (MTC), and Paratus Telecommunications. Two of these, Telecom Namibia Group and Mobile Telecommunications Limited, are the incumbent telecommunications providers and are also fully state-owned. Furthermore, it is reported that among the mobile network operators, the mobile infrastructure is 97% owned by the state-owned Telecom Namibia and MTC. In addition, MTC's market share is close to 100% for both voice and SMS traffic.

According to Art. 6 of the Code of Best Practices on Preferences, the nature of procurements in Annexes 2, 3 and 4 of the Code is reserved exclusively for procurement from Namibian suppliers who have met the nationality requirements of Article 71.3 of the Public Procurement Act and the local content requirement determined in the Code. The annexes mentioned above contain several goods, such as Electrical Cables, Computer Consumables, Distribution Transformers, and Games and Gaming Products. Additionally, they encompass services like audiovisual services, marketing, advertising and branding services, research services, information and communication technology services, and professional services (including quantity surveying, architecture, and auditing).

It is reported that Namibia does not mandate accounting separation for operators with significant market power (SMP) in the telecom market. However, functional separation is required by law.

Sections 71-72 of the Procurement Act include provisions for granting preferential treatment to Namibian companies over foreign companies in public procurement. This preferential treatment generally applies to goods, works, and services.
According to Art. 8 of the Code of Best Practices on Preferences, the Board or public entity must give national preference to a bidder that (i) qualifies as a Namibian bidder in accordance with section 71.3 of the Act; (ii) demonstrates that the bidder complies with the local content; and (iii) complies with the Act.
Pursuant to Art. 9 of the Code, the maximum allowable cumulative margin of preference applicable to exclusive preferences for price evaluation purposes is 10%. The Board or the public entity, when evaluating bids for the exclusive preference, must apply the margins of preference specified in column 2 of Annex 6 of the Code to the eligible bidders for each qualification category. These preferences for price evaluation include
- 2% to local manufacturers,
- 1% to local MSMEs,
- 1% to local women-owned businesses,
- 2% to local youth-owned businesses,
- 2% to local businesses owned by previously disadvantaged people, 2% to local businesses owned by previously disadvantaged people, and 1% to services provided by Namibian nationals.
- 1% to services provided by Namibian nationals

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