According to Art. 4 of the Proclamation No. 173 of 2013 and Arts. 33-36 of Proclamation No. 32 of 1993, all payments in the country are required to be in local currency, therefore requiring foreign firms to use local currency and payment methods in local currency.

It is reported that Eritrea’s legislation rigorously regulates capital flows, including the payment for the importation of goods and currency exchange, which results in a significant challenge for organisations in Eritrea to transfer foreign currency into or out of the country and to settle essential overseas bills. The National Bank of Eritrea is responsible for approving and managing all fund transfers into and out of the country and has the authority to disapprove a transfer. Furthermore, local funds are not freely convertible to any world currency. The exchange rate is determined by the government and does not fluctuate. In addition, it has been alleged that the government is in breach of Article VIII of the International Monetary Fund (IMP) with regard to restrictions on payments and transfers for international transactions.

Eritrea does not implement any de minimis threshold, which is the minimum value of goods below which customs do not charge duties.

Eritrea does not have any legal provisions regarding consumer protection that are applicable to online commerce.

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

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

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 Eritrea for the year 2023. This corresponds to "The government shut down domestic access to the Internet numerous times this year."

Eritrea 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 them. The Penal Code of the State of Eritrea discusses “Fraudulent Unfair Competition” in its Art. 359, penalising the acts of misappropriating others' “secret of manufacture, organisation or process” and misusing it in a “manner contrary to good faith”, with imprisonment between one and three years.

It is reported that there is no obligation for passive infrastructure sharing in Eritrea to deliver telecom services to end users, and it is not practised in the mobile sector and in the fixed sector based on commercial agreements.

Art. 5 of the Investment Proclamation No. 59/1994 states that all sectors are open to any investors, with the exception of domestic retail, domestic wholesale, import, and commission agency companies, which are excluded unless there is a bilateral agreement of reciprocity. Yet, it is reported that in practice, this law has been suspended, and the ruling Peoples Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) determines the sectors in which private investment is accepted and defines the terms under which it is permitted. As a result, investment is de facto prohibited in most sectors of the economy (with the exception of mining), including the telecom sector. It has also been reported that the majority of large enterprises are either wholly or partially owned by the government or the PFDJ.

Arts. 2-4 of Proclamation No. 134 of 2003 established the Eritrea Telecommunication Services Corporation (Eritel), which is a state-owned company and remains the only telecom company in the country. Proclamation No. 172 of 2012 converted this entity into a share company, making its shares available for investors, but there is no public information on the share of private ownership.

It is reported that Eritrea does not mandate functional or accounting separation for operators with significant market power (SMP) in the telecom market.

Eritrea has not appended the World Trade Organization (WTO) Telecom Reference Paper to its schedule of commitments.

Eritrea has a telecommunications authority: The Communication Department. However, it is reported that the decision making process of this entity is not fully independent from the government.

Eritrea has not joined any trade or regional agreements with binding commitments to cross-border data flows.