Art. 19 of the Constitutional Law on Foreign Productive Investment establishes that in order to be registered, foreign investment must be for a minimum amount, CNY 6,500,000 or its equivalent in another foreign currency (approx. 940,000 USD).

It is reported that patent examination in Venezuela has, in recent years, progressed at an exceptionally slow pace, with backlogs in some cases exceeding 10 years. The average period from filing to grant is understood to be approximately 10 to 12 years. In addition, it is reported that patent applications may not be filed in a foreign language, meaning that all applications must be submitted in Spanish.

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

Venezuela maintains a copyright framework under the Law on Copyright; however, its exceptions do not follow either the fair use or fair dealing models, thereby constraining the lawful use of protected works by third parties. Chapter II of Part II (Arts. 43-49) enumerates the statutory exceptions. Among these, Art. 44 provides that certain acts shall be deemed lawful reproductions, including the making of a single copy of a computer programme solely for backup or security purposes, as well as the storage of a computer programme in the internal memory of equipment for the exclusive purpose of use by the lawful user. These acts are permitted without prejudice to any participation of the rights holder where such participation is stipulated in the contract governing the disposal of the data carrier or in the relevant user licence.

It is reported that piracy, including online piracy, together with unauthorised camcording and the widespread use of unlicensed software, remains a persistent challenge.

Venezuela has signed the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty in December 1996, but has not ratified it.

Venezuela has signed the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Performances and Phonograms Treaty in December 1996, but has not ratified it.

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

Art. 11 of Decree No. 1399 establishes that the President can mandate temporary changes in the bidding process under exceptional circumstances in accordance with economic development plans that promote national development or provide preferences to domestic goods and suppliers. These measures include the reservation of procurements for nationals, although there is no further information on how this reservation would take place.

Art. 11 of Decree No. 1399 grants the President of Venezuela the authority to implement temporary measures aimed at addressing adverse or unfavourable conditions impacting small and medium-sized industries, cooperatives, and other forms of community associations. These measures may include but are not limited to, the establishment of preferential contract amounts or categories, the use of procurement schemes that incorporate goods with national added value, the transfer of technology, and the inclusion of human resources.

According to Art. 12 of Decree No. 1399, contracting entities are required to ensure the inclusion of goods and services produced in Venezuela by establishing objective evaluation criteria that prioritise these goods during the bid evaluation process.

Art. 13 of Decree No. 1399 stipulates that, for the selection of bids where the prices do not exceed 5% of the best-evaluated bid, preference shall be given to the bid that meets the following criteria:
- in the procurement of goods, the offer with the highest national added value;
- in the procurement of works and services, the bid submitted by a bidder whose leading domicile is in Venezuela has a greater incorporation of national parts and inputs and a greater participation of national human resources, including at the managerial level.
Once the above criteria have been applied, if the evaluation yields two or more bids with equal results, preference will be given to the bidder that has greater national participation in its capital.

It is reported that transparency and accountability in public procurement have diminished, while the number of documented corruption cases in this sector has risen in recent years. Procedures for tendering and awarding contracts, as well as for tracking their implementation and subsequent monitoring, are not publicly available. A significant share of public contracts is issued under emergency procurement procedures, thereby bypassing open tendering requirements. Numerous instances of corruption have been linked to the use of direct awards.