Turkmenistan has not signed the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts.

Turkmenistan has not adopted national legislation based on or influenced by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Electronic Commerce.

Turkmenistan has not adopted national legislation based on or influenced by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Electronic Signatures.

It is reported that slow and bureaucratic customs procedures inhibit the efficient movement of goods and trade. Turkmenistan often requires that export and import contracts be registered at the State Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange (SCRME), the only exchange in the country. Contract registration at the commodities exchange is a cumbersome process involving approval from various agencies and ministries. The contract registration procedure at SCRME includes a justification of prices, and the contract’s feasibility is scrutinised by the Supreme Chamber of Control. The procedure applies not only to contracts signed at SCRME but also to contracts signed between third parties. All import contracts must be registered before goods are delivered to Turkmenistan.

It is reported that the President and the Cabinet of Ministers must approve the export of scientific research, technology and inventions.

Art. 30 of Law No. 93-IV provides that all technical means of communication used in the telecommunications or communication systems of Turkmenistan, including end devices, are subject to certification for compliance with state standards, technical conditions and other norms in accordance with the legislation of Turkmenistan. Art. 16 of Law No. 459-IV states that a certificate of conformity is issued when the product's compliance with the established requirements is confirmed by an authorised agency or other government agency, and based on it, the product manufacturer, developer, executor, seller, shipper has the right to use the state conformity mark. In addition, Art. 18 of the same law establishes that documents confirming the quality and safety of the product received outside the territory of Turkmenistan are recognised in accordance with the international agreements of Turkmenistan. In the absence of an international agreement, documents confirming the quality and safety of the product are recognised in accordance with the procedure established by the competent authority.

According to Arts. 30 and 31 of Law of Turkmenistan No. 159-V about legal regulation of the development of the Internet and rendering Internet services in Turkmenistan, operators of Internet network services and Internet users are liable for using non-certified means of cryptographic protection of information. However, the encryption certification requirements or a list of certified encryption programs have not been found.

The indicator "6.2.4 - Government Internet shut down in practice" of the V-Dem Dataset, which measures whether the government has the technical capacity to actively make internet service cease, thus interrupting domestic access to the internet or whether the government has decided to do so, has a score of 1 in Turkmenistan for the year 2023. This corresponds to "The government shut down domestic access to the Internet numerous times this year."
Turkmenistan has a long history of Internet outages, and online restrictions have increased in recent years. Full or partial Internet outages were recorded for five non-consecutive months in 2022. In February 2022, Turkmenistan's security services began blocking almost the entire Internet rather than individual IP addresses. In addition, in March 2022, a one-hour Internet outage was recorded in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, which coincided with preparations for the inauguration of Serdar Berdimuhamedow. In 2022, Turkmenistan reportedly ranked tenth among the countries that suffered the most damage to their economies from government-mandated Internet outages, with Internet blackouts costing around USD 29 million to the country.

Art. 22 of the Law on Licensing of Certain Types of Activities in Turkmenistan outlines that licenses are required for specific activities and operations specified by law, including the following:
- activities in the field of communications;
- activities in the field of cybersecurity; and
- publishing activities.

Turkmenistan has not appended the World Trade Organization (WTO) Telecom Reference Paper to its schedule of commitments. In fact, Turkmenistan is not a member of the WTO.

Turkmenistan has a telecommunications authority: the Agency for Transport and Communications (Turkmenaragatnashyk). However, the decision-making process of this entity is not fully independent from the government, given that the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan governs it.

According to Art. 17.2 of Law No. 519-V, the transborder transfer of personal data to the territory of foreign countries shall only take place if those countries guarantee the protection of personal data. Furthermore, Art. 17.3. points out that the cross-border transfer of personal data to the territory of foreign countries that do not ensure the protection of personal data may be carried out in the following cases: 1) if the data subject has given their written consent to the cross-border transfer of his personal data; 2) if international agreements approved by Turkmenistan provides for it; 3) if provided by the laws of Turkmenistan, if it is necessary for the purposes of protecting the principles of constitutional structure, human and civil rights and freedoms, public health and morals, public order, protecting the country and ensuring state security; 4) to protect the life, health, other legal interests, constitutional rights and freedoms of the data subject or other persons, if it is not possible to obtain the data subject's consent. Otherwise, pursuant to Art. 17.4, the international transfer of personal data abroad may be prohibited or restricted by the legislation of Turkmenistan.

Turkmenistan has not joined any agreement with binding commitments to open transfers of data across borders.

Act No. 519-V provides a comprehensive regime of data protection in Turkmenistan. It provides for data subject rights, data controller obligations, data transfer restrictions, and general principles for the collection and processing of personal information. It does not, however, contain data breach notification requirements, nor does it address the appointment of data protection officers. In addition to Act No. 519-V, the Code for Criminal Liability of 10 May 2010 No. 104-IV provides protection against cybercrimes, and further provisions applicable to data protection can be found in other legislation, such as the Code of Turkmenistan of 29 August 2013 No. 422-IV on Administrative offences.

Art. 13 of Law No. 226-VI contains provisions for storing electronic documents and archives of electronic documents. Electronic documents must be stored on an electronic storage medium in a form that allows their integrity and authenticity to be verified on the applicable medium. The obligation to store electronic documents lies with the involved parties of electronic document management. This includes any party, whether public or private, that owns the documents, or in whose interests they are to be used, or by whom they are to be stored, protected, blocked or removed, and so forth. Subjects of electronic document management can ensure the storage of electronic documents independently and use the services of intermediaries, archival institutions, and other institutions in electronic document management. In addition, Art. 56 provides that the body considering disputes between the subjects of electronic documents, electronic document flow and digital services shall have the right to demand from all subjects involved in the compilation, transmission, receipt, processing and storage of electronic documents the necessary materials and documents concerning the subject of the dispute.
Art. 20 of Law No. 392-IV requires documents in electronic form to be retained for three years.