Art. 110 and 123 of Law No. 18-04 of 24 Chaâbane 1439 corresponding to 10 May 2018 setting the general rules relating to post and electronic communications (Loi No. 18-04 du 24 Chaâbane 1439 correspondant au 10 mai 2018 fixant les règles générales relatives à la poste et aux communications électroniques) provides for accounting separation for operators with significant market power. In particular, a license is issued to any person, whether natural or legal, who wins a call for tenders and undertakes to comply with the conditions set out in the solicitation documents. Part of these conditions includes the obligation to draw up cost accounting. It is reported that the State of Algeria has not established functional separation for the operator with significant market power required by Law.

It is reported that, prior to 2018, the State-owned operator Algérie Télécom (AT) was the sole player in the fixed-line segment. It held a monopoly over the country’s fixed-line and fiber optic networks and was responsible for developing Algeria’s telecommunication sector. In 2018, the Law No. 18-04 set the general rules relating to post and electronic communications and require the incumbent operator holding a licence to establish and operate a fixed public electronic communications network to respond to requests for unbundling of its local loop made by the service operators of electronic communications holding general authorizations, in consideration of a compensation (Arts. 102 and 126). However, pursuant to Art. 126, international traffic originating in or destined for electronic communications networks open to the public other than satellite must be transported in full through the international infrastructure established or operated by the incumbent operator (AT) holder of the licence to establish and operate a fixed public electronic communications network. The telecom licensing requirements are stipulated in Arts. 123 and 124 of Law No. 18-04.

Algeria 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 in Order No. 03-07 related to patents of invention. Art. 59 provides that the competent judicial authority shall take into consideration the legal interests of the defendant when approving any required evidences through non-disclosure of commercial and industrial secrets.

It is reported that Algeria has established a regulatory framework mandating passive infrastructure-sharing obligations in the telecommunications sector, both in mobile and fixed sectors.

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

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

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

The Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Law does not provide any fair use/fair dealing model for copyright exceptions. However, Arts. 33-53 provide a list of wide exceptions. These include: materials that are printed, audio, audio-visual or any other form prepared for school or university education; work converted for personal or family purposes; usage of decorative or illustrative drawing of a literary or artistic work in a publication, in an audio or audio video recording or in audio or audio video programs meant for teaching or professional training as long as it is intended to achieve the targeted purpose; free acting or performing of a work; libraries and document keeping centers, not aiming at making direct or indirect commercial profits, can reproduce a work without the author’s or right owner’s permission in response to a request from another library or document keeping center, or to maintain the work’s copy, or to compensate a damaged, lost or void one; and mass media institutions reproducing, circulating or conveying to the public articles on daily events published by newspapers, radio or television, without permission from the author or reward to him, provided that the author and the source are indicated, unless there is an express provision prohibiting its use for such purposes.

It is reported that Algeria lacks proper enforcement efforts against copyright piracy, including online and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) piracy. In addition, it is reported that the rate of unlicensed software installation in the country was 82% in 2017 (above the 56% rate of the Middle Eastern and African countries), for an estimated commercial value of unlicensed software of USD 70 million. Moreover, despite having a legal framework on copyright, it is reported that there are major holes in the framework for enforcing copyrights, including clear guidance on Internet service providers' (ISP) liability and effective provisions for the takedown of infringing websites.

Chapter 3 of Law No. 22-18 establishes the Algerian Agency for Investment Promotion. The Agency, among other activities, should ensure that the investors comply with the legislation in force and the standards relating, in particular, to environment and public health protection, to competition, work and transparency of accounting, tax and financial information (Art. 15). The controls are done both before the investment (during recording and processing of investment files) and after (during monitoring of investment projects).

Under Decree No. 20-332, news sites must be based physically in Algeria. Art. 6 establishes that "the online information activity is subject to the publication through an electronic site, whose hosting is exclusively domiciled, physically and logically in Algeria, with a domain name extension ".dz"."

It is reported that there are concerns that Algeria does not provide adequate judicial remedies in cases of patent infringement.

Art. 85 of the Preferential Decree No. 15-247 requires that, in circumstances when relying on national production and/or entities is not possible, foreign companies bidding alone for a public tender are obliged to subcontract at least 30% of the contract price to Algerian companies. In the prior public procurement law, there were no specifications in terms of the percentage that foreign bidders should subcontract to local companies. Therefore, theoretically enabling them to provide their local Algerian partners with a lower than 30% of the total contract in order to comply with the Algerian public procurement rule that obliges foreign bidders collaborate with local entities.

The Presidential Decree No. 10-236 has been repealed in September 2015 by Presidential Decree No. 10-247. However, pursuant to Art. 218 of Presidential Decree No. 15-247, Art. 23 of the Presidential Decree No. 10-236 remains in force pending the publication of the new implementing regulations. Art. 23 stipulates that:
- Relating to procurements of goods, a 25% preference margin is granted to locally manufactured products upon receipt of a certificate of Algerian origin;
- Relating to the procurements of services, a 25% preference margin is granted to enterprises under Algerian law as well as to mixed groups (i.e. comprising both Algerian and foreign members) up to the limit of the part owned by the Algerian enterprise in the group.

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