Law No. 642 regulates the concession, license or authorization to provide telecommunication services. These will be subject to the payment of a fee, which must be verified within 60 days of obtaining them or renewing them only once in each period. For renewals, the payment of the fee will be determined on the basis of extensions or new investments. According to Art. 70 of the law, the commercial exploitation of the services will be subject to the payment of an annual fee of up to 1% of the gross income of the provider. In addition, according to Art. 64 of Decree No. 14,135, any foreign company that wants to provide telecommunication service in the country shall be domiciled or establish a representative office in Paraguay.

"Compañía Paraguaya de Comunicaciones" is the main fixed telephony operator and is fully state-owned.

It is reported that there is no obligation for passive infrastructure sharing in Paraguay to deliver telecom services to end users. However, it is practiced in the mobile sector and in the fixed sector based on commercial agreements.

It is reported that the telecommunications sector is open to competition, except for fixed lines and international carrier services, which remain under State monopoly with the "Compañía Paraguaya de Comunicaciones". This is despite full foreign ownership being allowed in the telecommunications sector.

Paraguay 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. Art. 65 of the Labor Code establishes the employee's obligations to maintain strict confidentiality of technical, commercial and manufacturing secrets of the products in the production of which they are directly or indirectly involved, or of which they have knowledge by reason of the work performed, as well as of administrative matters whose disclosure could be detrimental to the company. In addition, the literature indicates that in the absence of special laws for the protection of industrial secrets, Criminal Law has a role, since Art. 147 of the Penal Code establishes penalties for the disclosure of "other people's" secrets and industrial or trade secrets.

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

Paraguay has ratified the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Performances and Phonogram Treaty.

Paraguay has a copyright regime under the law No. 1328. However, the exceptions do not follow the fair use or fair dealing model, therefore limiting the lawful use of copyrighted work by others. Arts. 38-46 list the exceptions, which include the reproduction by reprographic means, for teaching or examination purposes in educational institutions; the reproduction of a work for judicial or administrative proceedings, to the extent justified by the purpose to be achieved; among others.

Copyright is not adequately enforced online in Paraguay. The country reportedly failed to apply sufficient sanctions to deter future acts of infringement or to ensure that government institutions use properly licensed software. In addition, it is reported that the rate of unlicensed software installation in the country was 83% in 2017 (above the 52% rate of the Latin American countries) for an estimated commercial value of USD 76 million.

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

It is reported that the telecommunications sector is open to competition, except for fixed lines and international carrier services, which remain under State monopoly with the "Compañía Paraguaya de Comunicaciones". This is despite full foreign ownership being allowed in the telecommunications sector.

Art. 33 of the Public Procurement and Contracting Law provides for the classification and procedures of public procurement. It establishes a more favorable criterion for international bidders that incorporate in their offer the use of human resources of the country and/or the acquisition and lease of goods produced in Paraguay. Art. 33 also establishes the obligation to register an address in Paraguay or to designate a local representative, for the purposes of the relevant communications at the time of contracting in the case of a foreign bidder.

Paraguay is not a party to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA). However, the country has been an observer of the WTO GPA since 2019.

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