Haiti has not joined any free trade agreement committing to open transfers of cross-border data flows.

Haiti does not have a comprehensive data protection regime in place.

It is reported that the Executive Body of the National Telecommunications Council (CONATEL) has instructed the relevant parties to facilitate the installation of TABS servers for the collection of call data records (CDR) and the generation of traffic reports on time division multiplexing (TDM) by the network operating centre. The head of CONATEL has further ordered that the decryption key enabling access to and interpretation of the CDR be placed at its disposal. These measures were undertaken by the Haitian authorities pursuant to Art. 21 of the Decree of 12 October 1977, which stipulates that all telecommunications services are required to collaborate with the State in the manner defined by the decree and its implementing regulations and to facilitate the supervision incumbent upon the State.

It is reported that it typically takes about 4 years for the Intellectual Property Service in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to process a patent registration application.

Some complaints have been reported that the laws on intellectual property rights in Haiti are outdated, as they rely on a century-old industrial law (Law of 14 December 1922) rather than a specific law governing industrial property. Moreover, it is reported that Haiti has weak enforcement mechanisms, ineffective courts, and judges with limited knowledge of commercial law, which compromise the effectiveness of legal protections.

Haiti is not a signatory of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

Haiti has a copyright regime under the Decree on Copyright. However, the exceptions do not follow the fair use or fair dealing model, therefore limiting the lawful use of copyrighted work by others. Art 46 lists the exceptions, which include: (i) reporting of current events, provided that only short-term fragments of a performance, phonogram, or broadcast are used; (ii) reproduction solely for scientific research purposes; (iii) reproduction in the context of teaching activities, except where the performance or phonograms have been published as material intended for teaching; among others.

It is reported that Haiti lacks the capacity to prevent piracy and the distribution of counterfeit goods. As a result, theft and infringement of intellectual property rights are reported to be standard practice.

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

Haiti has not signed the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Performances and Phonograms Treaty.

Haiti lacks a comprehensive regime for the protection of trade secrets.

It is reported that there is an obligation for passive infrastructure sharing in the country to deliver telecom services to end users and that passive sharing is practised in both the mobile and fixed sectors based on commercial agreements. The obligation has not been found in the law, although Art. 12 of the Decree-Law of 12 October 1977 states that, in order to obtain maximum efficiency and output for the provision of services, agreements can be concluded for the distribution of networks, equipment and buildings between public services of the same or different nature, subject to of the approval of the State Secretariat of Public Works, and Transport and Communications.

Although Haiti’s Public Procurement Law sets open tendering as the default method for procurement (Art. 29), certain restrictions can be found in the Public Procurement Regulation. Art. 60 of the regulations provide that participation in competitive bidding procedures and direct contracting for supplies, services, and works financed from Haiti’s own resources, including those of local authorities, autonomous administrative, cultural, or scientific bodies, public enterprises, and mixed enterprises with majority public financial participation, is reserved exclusively to Haitian companies that are duly authorised to operate and registered with the General Directorate of Taxes (DGI). Exceptions may apply where permitted under international agreements, or where Haitian companies cannot provide the relevant supplies, services, or works.

Under Art. 29-1 of Haiti’s Public Procurement Law, a tender is considered “open” where any candidate that is not subject to the exclusions set out in Arts. 22 and 23 may submit a bid. Open tendering is established as the default procurement method, and recourse to alternative procedures is treated as exceptional, particularly for contracts with values below the applicable procurement thresholds. Art. 39 further provides that public contracts with a value below the thresholds set out in Arts. 1 and 30 can be awarded without using an open procedure. Arts. 2–3 of the Order of 25 May 2012 set the relevant thresholds for State administration institutions (other than those referred to in Art. 3), departmental collectivities, public enterprises, and mixed enterprises with majority public financial participation at HTG 25 million (approx. USD 190,000) for goods contracts and HTG 20 million (approx. USD 150,000) for services and intellectual services contracts.

According to Art. 58 of the Public Procurement Law of Haiti, when awarding a public contract, preference may be given to the offer presented by small and medium-sized Haitian businesses or nationals of member countries of the same economic community of States. This preference must be quantified as a percentage of the offer amount, with a maximum of 15%. The preference cannot be invoked if it has not been provided for in the tender documents.
Art. 58 of the Public Procurement Regulation further operationalises this mechanism by specifying that the margin may be granted to eligible Haitian or “community” firms, including:
(i) suppliers of manufactured goods where at least 30% of the manufacturing cost reflects value added in Haiti or within the relevant economic community;
(ii) contractors in the building and public works sector, provided that at least 30% of inputs originate in Haiti or the relevant economic community, or that at least 70% of personnel across categories are Haitian nationals or nationals of the relevant economic community; and
(iii) consulting firms and design offices.
For consulting firms and design offices bidding in consortium with foreign firms, the margin is capped at 10%, and only where their participation represents at least 30% of the study.