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

Laos has established a telecommunications authority known as the Lao Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (LTRA). However, it has been reported that the entity's decision-making process lacks full independence from government influence. The LTRA operates as a subsidiary structure within the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, holding a status equivalent to that of a department and functioning as a think tank to support the Ministry in overseeing telecommunications regulatory activities. The Director General of the LTRA is directly accountable to the Minister of Post and Telecommunications, as well as the supervising Vice Minister, for the organisation’s performance, including its successes and shortcomings.

The political parties and government organisations having their own website must use the Domain Name “.la” and must store the information in the land system computer, which uses the Internet Protocol of the National Internet Center located in Lao PDR according to Art. 10 of the Decree on the Management and Use of Internet and Domain Name of the Lao PDR.

Art. 39 of the Law on Business Competition establishes a general mergers and acquisitions review regime. However, this regime has never been used to block investment in sectors relevant to the digital economy.

According to Art. 21 of the Law on Intellectual Property, a patent or petty patent shall be refused, in any case, if it is contrary to the culture and fine traditions of the nation, social orders and morale, and security and peace of the Lao PDR. Pursuant to Art. 27, any domestic or foreign individuals, legal entities or organisations may apply for registration of their industrial property with the Ministry of Technology and Science or with an international intellectual property registration organisation to which the Lao PDR is a party. However, any individual, legal entity or organisation residing in a foreign country wishing to apply for industrial property registration shall have a business premise or an authorised representative in the Lao PDR to be able to apply. The applicant without a business premise or residence in the Lao PDR shall appoint an authorised representative to carry out transactions related to intellectual property in the Lao PDR.

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

Laos has a clear regime of copyright exceptions that follows fair use, which enables the lawful use of copyrighted work by others without obtaining permission. Art. 115 of the Law on Intellectual Property Rights lists exceptions that include: the quotation of a publicly available work, provided that it conforms to the principles of fair use and the scope of the quotation is justified for the intended purpose; the use of literary or artistic works to illustrate publications, broadcasts or recordings for educational or scientific research purposes; the translation of literary works into Braille or other characters for visually impaired persons is a permitted use of copyrighted material; among others.

Copyright is not adequately enforced online in Laos. It is reported that IP enforcement authorities in Laos remain relatively inexperienced, and the country's IP Law contains no specific provisions on e-commerce IP infringement.

Laos has not signed the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty.

Lao PDR is a signatory of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Information Technology Agreement (ITA) of 1996 and its 2015 expansion (ITA II).

Art. 9 of the Decree of the Prime Minister on Government Procurement of Goods, Construction, Maintenance and Services No. 03/PM stipulates that the use of the national budget for the procurement of foreign goods is not authorised if such goods can be produced locally at equal quality. The regulation also states that local firms are given priority in public procurements of goods, works, and services financed in full with domestic funds. Local firms that are not affiliated with foreign firms and that supply goods, works, and services of equal quality to local firms are given preferential rights in competitive bidding.

Art. 45 of Law No. 30/NA provides that contractors, suppliers or consultants meeting all conditions must be given domestic preference and considered to be awarded the contracts. Clause 14 of Instruction No. 0477/MOF clarifies that domestic preference should apply for international open bidding (international competitive bidding) only, and such given domestic preference must be stipulated in the bidding documents through the following conditions:
- For works and/or maintenance: if a local bidder’s bid price does not exceed 7.5% of an international bidders bid price, the local bidder must be considered as the winning bidder for works and/or maintenance.
- Supply of goods: if, as a result of a comparison, the lowest evaluated bid is a bid from Group C (bids offering goods manufactured abroad and will be directly imported), all bids from Group C must be further compared with the lowest evaluated bid from Group A (bids offering domestically manufactured goods) after adding to the evaluated price of goods offered in each bid from Group C, for the purpose of this further comparison only, an amount not to exceed 15% of the respective bid price. The lowest evaluated price from the final comparison must be selected for the award.

It is reported that the procurement procedures are not transparent. It is not common practice for government purchases to be advertised or bid on openly.

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