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

The EU Directive on Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) covers traditional broadcasting services as well as audiovisual media services provided on-demand, including via the Internet. Article 13(1) provides for Member States to secure a minimum 30% share of European works in the catalogues as well as "ensuring prominence" of those works. "Prominence" involves promoting European works through facilitating access to such works using any appropriate means to ensure prominence of European works. The Directive has been implemented by Member States in different ways, ranging from very extensive and detailed measures to a mere reference to the general obligation to promote European works.
In Malta, Art. 13 has been implemented by imposing on video-on-demand (VOD) providers the obligation to reserve a share of European works in their catalogue. Malta will gradually raise the share, at least during a first transition period. According to Article 16N of the Broadcasting Act, providers of on-demand audiovisual media services must ensure that their catalogues contain in at least 30% European works and that they are prominently displayed.

The Directive 2000/31/EC (E-Commerce Directive) is the legal basis governing the liability of Internet Services Providers (ISPs) in the EU Member States and includes a conditional safe harbor. Not all Member States have transposed the relevant articles consistently, leading to divergent national case law that could cause legal insecurity on an EU level.
In Malta, the intermediary liability in the E-commerce Directive is implemented almost verbatim in the Electronic Commerce Act (Part IV). The most remarkable difference is that it covers exclusively liability in damages.

The Directive 2000/31/EC (E-Commerce Directive) is the legal basis governing the liability of Internet Services Providers (ISPs) in the EU Member States and includes a conditional safe harbor. Not all Member States have transposed the relevant articles consistently, leading to divergent national case law that could cause legal insecurity on an EU level.
In Malta, the intermediary liability in the E-commerce Directive is implemented almost verbatim in the Electronic Commerce Act (Part IV). The most remarkable difference is that it covers exclusively liability in damages.

It is reported that Malta imposes an identity requirement for SIM registration. Anyone wanting to purchase a SIM card has to provide their national ID card, or a passport in case of foreigners, to activate a new prepaid SIM card.

Under the EU Directive on Data Retention, operators were required to retain certain categories of traffic and location data (excluding the content of those communications) for a period between six months and two years and to make them available, on request, to law enforcement authorities for the purposes of investigating, detecting and prosecuting serious crime and terrorism. On 8 April 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union declared the Directive invalid. However, not all national laws which implemented the Directive have been overturned.
Despite the ECJ ruling, the Maltese law on data retention still applies. According to Art. 21 of Subsidiary Legislation 586.01 Processing of Personal Data (Electronic Communications Sector) Regulations internet access and internet e-mail data shall be retained for a minimum of six months, while communications data of fixed network telephony, mobile telephony and Internet telephony shall be retained for a minimum of one year.

The Malta Financial Services Authority has imposed in R3-3.5.2.1.6 of its Virtual Financial Assets Rulebook (Chapter 3 of the Virtual Financial Assets Rules for VFA Services Providers) a requirement for licence holders to ensure that its IT infrastructure is located in Malta, and/or any other European Economic Area member state, and/or any other third country jurisdiction wherein the Authority is satisfied that the IT infrastructure ensures the integrity and security of any data stored therein; availability, traceability and accessibility of data; and privacy and confidentiality. This shall apply to virtual financial asset (VFA) service providers licensed in terms of the Virtual Financial Assets Act and applicants seeking licensing as VFA service providers under the Act, as applicable.

The Data Protection Act deviates from General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on the transfer of data in its Art. 10. The Article states that, in the absence of an adequacy decision pursuant to Art. 45(3) of the GDPR, the Minister may, following consultation with the Commissioner, set limits to the transfer of specific categories of personal data to a third country or an international organization for important reasons of public interest.

The Malta Gaming Authority imposes real-time replication in a local server of "regulatory data" in the gaming sector in their Technical Infrastructure Guidelines (Guideline 3.2). Regulatory data is composed of player details, financial transactions, and game-play transactions.

It is reported that the Malta Communications Authority (MCA), the executive authority for the supervision and administration of services in the telecommunications sector, is independent from the government in the decision-making process.

Both accounting and functional separation of significant market power (SMP)/ dominant network operators is mandated. Functional separation is only applicable when all other SMP remedies are deemed to be ineffective. As such no operator having SMP is currently liable to such a remedy. An obligation of functional separation applies on vertically integrated undertakings to place activities related to the wholesale provision of relevant access products in an independently operating business entity. Such business entity shall supply access products and services to all undertakings, including to other business entities within the parent company, on the same timescales, terms and conditions, including those relating to price and service levels, and by means of the same systems and processes.

Malta has ratified the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Performances and Phonograms Treaty.

The Directive 2016/943 on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) is key in harmonising national laws concerning trade secrets. Malta transposed the Directive through the Act No. XXIX of 2018 - Trade Secrets Act, 2018.

It is reported that passive sharing is mandated in Malta, and it is practiced in mobile based on commercial agreements. In addition, Art. 3.2 of the Directive 2014/61/EU establishes that Member States shall ensure that, upon written request of an undertaking providing or authorised to provide public communications networks, any network operator has the obligation to meet all reasonable requests for access to its physical infrastructure under fair and reasonable terms and conditions, including price, with a view to deploying elements of high-speed electronic communications networks. Such written request shall specify the elements of the project for which the access is requested, including a specific time frame.

There is no general principle for the use of copyright protected material comparable to the fair use/fair dealing principles. Directive 2001/29/EC defines an optional, but exhaustive set of limitations from the author´s exclusive rights under the control of the “three-step test” in line with the Berne Convention that establishes three cumulative conditions to the limitations and exceptions of a copyright holder’s rights. The Directive has been transposed by Member States with significant freedom.
Art. 9 of the Copyright Act of Malta implements the three-step test. Also, some specific limitations, which are non-mandatory by the Directive 2001/29/EC, have been implemented.