Under Section 100 of the Electronic Communications Act, the President is permitted to make written requests and issue orders to operators or providers of electronic communications networks or services requiring them to intercept communications, provide any user information or otherwise in aid of law enforcement or national security. The procedure lacks sufficient oversight as the exercise of such powers are exclusively at the President’s discretion.
In addition, under the Electronic Communications Act, the National Communication Authority can at anytime request data collected by data controllers and it is not clear whether a court order is required. Access is spelt out under Section 8 Paragraph 2: "The Authority may authorise a network operator or service provider to disclose lists of its subscribers, including directory access databases, for the publication of directories or for other purposes that the Authority may specify."

The Data Protection Act is the legal framework that guides data management in Ghana under the auspices of the Data Protection Commission. Sections 60-74 of the Data Protection Act explain that personal data cannot be accessed without prior consent except for the purposes of the following; natural security, crime and taxation, health education and social work, regulatory activity, journalism, literature and art, research, history and statistics, disclosure required by law or made in connection with a legal proceeding, domestic purposes, confidential references given by data controller, armed forces, public service or ministerial appointment, examination marks, examination scripts, professional privilege.

Section 77 of the Cybersecurity Act 2020 mandates that service providers retain subscriber information for at least six years, and metadata and the content of communications for one year. Law enforcement officials can seek a court order to extend either period. In accordance with Section 97 (Interpretation), service provider includes: (a) a public or private entity that provides users the ability to communicate by means of a computer system, electronic communication devices, mobile networks; (b) an entity that processes or stores computer data on behalf of a communication service or a user of a communication service; and (c) an entity that provides services including data and content delivered or executed in full by a technical system involving (i) computer time; (ii) computer output; (iii) data processing; and (iv) the storage or retrieval of a programme or data through multiple platforms and devices such as web or a mobile device.

Ghana has not joined any free trade agreement committing to open transfers of cross-border data flows.

The Data Protection Act does not contain specific provisions on the transfer of personal data yet the principles relating to data processing are also applicable to the transfer of data. Section 20 requires that a person must not process personal data without the prior consent of the data subject unless the purpose for which the personal data is processed is necessary for the purpose of a contract to which the data subject is a party, authorised or required by law, to protect a legitimate interest of the data subject, necessary for the proper performance of a statutory duty, or necessary to pursue the legitimate interest of the data controller or a third party to whom the data is supplied. On the other hand, Section 27 provides that a data controller who intends to process personal data must register with the Data Protection Commission. An application for registration as a data controller has to be made in writing and must contain, among other things, the name or description of the country to which the applicant may transfer the data (Section 47).

Section 79(3) of Act 930 provides that the accounting records of the bank, specialised deposit-taking institution or financial holding company shall be kept at the head office in the country for a period of not less than ten years. Previously, Section 71(2) of Act 673, which was repealed by Act 930, also required a bank to keep its accounting records at the bank's head office in Ghana.

Ghana has appended the World Trade Organization (WTO) Telecom Reference Paper to its schedule of commitments.

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

In April 2021, the government acquired full ownership of AirtelTigo after Airtel and Millcom, AirtelTigo’s parent companies, announced an exit from the Ghanaian market. The government stated that it temporarily operates the assets of the communications company, which served 5.1 million subscribers at the time of the sale. In addition, the government maintains a 30% stake in Vodafone in Ghana, after Vodafone acquired the majority stake in the state-owned Ghana Telecom in July 2008.

It is reported that Ghana mandates functional and accounting separation for operators with significant market power (SMP) in the telecom market.

Ghana 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. According to Section 5.1 of the Protection Against Unfair Competition Act of 2000, any act or practice in the course of industrial or commercial activities, that results in the disclosure, acquisition or use by another person of secret information (Secret information is defined in Section 5.3) without the consent of the rightful owner of that information and in a manner contrary to honest commercial practices constitutes an act of unfair competition. In addition, pursuant Section 5.4, any act or practice, in the course of industrial or commercial activities, is considered an act of unfair competition if it consists or results in: unfair commercial use of the secret test or other data, the origin of which involves considerable effort and which has been submitted to a competent authority for the purposes of obtaining approval of the marketing of pharmaceutical or agricultural chemical products which utilize new chemical entities; or the disclosure of such data, except where it is necessary for the protection of the public; and steps are taken to ensure that the data are protected against unfair commercial use.

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

Ghana has ratified the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty.

Ghana has ratified the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Performances and Phonograms Treaty.

Ghana has a copyright regime under the Copyright Act, 2005. However, the exceptions do not follow the fair use or fair dealing model, therefore limiting the lawful use of copyrighted work by others. Arts. 19-21 list the exceptions, which include personal and teaching purposes, reproduction of single copy of a computer programme as a back-up, permitted use of copyright material by a library, among others.