Law No. 2017-20 establishes a safe harbour regime for intermediaries for copyright infringements. Chapter II of Title I of Book Six of the Law is concerned with the responsibility of internet operators and establishes the general liability regime and the special liability regimes.

Law No. 2017-20 establishes a safe harbour regime for intermediaries beyond copyright infringement. Chapter II of Title I of Book Six of the Law is concerned with the responsibility of internet operators and establishes the general liability regime and the special liability regimes.

Art. 4 of Decree No. 2020-249 stipulates that no individual may benefit from an electronic communications service unless they have first been identified by the operator in question in accordance with the conditions set forth in this decree. The term "electronic communications services" is defined as encompassing all services that involve the emission, transmission, or reception of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, or information of any nature or a combination of these functions. The 2020 decree repealed Decree No. 2016-465, which contained a similar requirement in Chapter II.

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

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

Benin 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 trade secrets. The country has established provisions addressing disclosure, acquisition or use of confidential information in the course of industrial or commercial activities by third parties in Art. 6 of Annex VIII of the Bangui Agreement ratified by 17 French-speaking States, including Benin since 2002.

According to Art. 72 of Law No. 2017-20, the Regulatory Authority shall encourage sharing active and passive infrastructures and access to alternative infrastructures under equity, non-discrimination, and equal access conditions. The Authority can make infrastructure sharing mandatory in specific cases such as i) promotion of competition objectives, ii) territorial planning, or iii) protection of the environment or heritage.

According to Art. 1 of Decree No. 2018-552 of 12 December 2018, the State is the sole shareholder of the telecommunications company SBIN S.A, which is therefore fully state-owned.

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

Benin has not appended the World Trade Organization (WTO) Telecom Reference Paper to its schedule of commitments.

The Post and Electronic Communications Regulatory Authority (ARCEP) is the Authority in charge of regulating electronic communications and postal services. The Regulatory Authority is an independent administrative structure with legal personality and financial and management autonomy. It carries out its missions in an independent, impartial, fair and transparent manner (Art. 113 of Law No. 2017-20).

Section 43 of Law No. 2009-09 provides that the transfer of personal data to another country or an international organisation requires prior authorisation from the Regulator.

Art. 77 of Law No. 2020 - 26 provides for a specific preference for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Any candidate for a public contract who plans to subcontract at least 30% of the total value of the said contract to one or more MSMEs benefits from a margin of preference that may not exceed 5%. In addition, notwithstanding the provisions relating to Community preference, when a public contract is awarded, a preference of 5% must be given to the tender submitted by an MSME. This preference rate may be combined with the Community preference rate of 15%.

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

According to the Benin Investment Code of 2020, which establishes the general conditions, advantages and rules applicable to domestic and foreign direct investments in Benin, legal persons of foreign nationality shall not receive less favourable treatment than that granted to legal persons of Beninese nationality (Art. 11).