According to Art. 40 of Law No. 20/017 on Telecommunications and Information and Communication Technologies, the legal entity benefiting from a licence must adopt the form of a Société Anonyme (‘S.A’). Without prejudice to agreements and conventions to which the Congolese State is a party, at least thirty per cent (30%) of the share capital of the aforementioned company must be allocated as follows:
- At least 25% must be held by Congolese natural or legal persons whose shares are owned by Congolese natural persons. This subscription must be paid within three years of the company’s incorporation.
- 5% is reserved for Congolese employees of the company.
In the event that the 30% threshold mentioned above is not met, the company may still be incorporated, provided the share reserved for Congolese workers is guaranteed.

It is reported that, in practice, the DRC requires foreign investors to hire local agents and participate in a joint venture with the government or local partners.

The DRC lacks a dedicated organization for screening inbound foreign investment. Instead, this responsibility falls upon the Presidency and various ministries, functioning in a de facto capacity.

According to Art. 18 of Law No. 82-001 on Industrial Property, non-Congolese patent applicants domiciled abroad are obliged to indicate an address for service with a Congolese agent and to work through them.

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

The DRC has a copyright regime under the Ordinance-Law No. 86-033 on the Protection of Copyright and Neighboring Rights. However, the exceptions do not follow the fair use or fair dealing model, therefore limiting the lawful use of copyrighted work by others. Arts. 24-32 list the exceptions, which include reproducing quotations or excerpts of protected works for cultural, scientific, teaching, critical or polemic purposes, provided that the source, title and name of the author are mentioned; the reproduction of photographs in anthologies intended for teaching use and in scientific works shall be authorised; among others.

According to Decree No. 402-05 approving the Regulations for the Express Dispatch of Shipments, the de minimis threshold, that is the minimum value of goods below which customs do not charge duties, is USD 200, following the 200 USD threshold recommended by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

Law No. 358-05 provides a comprehensive framework for consumer protection that also applies to online transactions.

Dominican Republic has signed and ratified the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts.

Dominican Republic has adopted national legislation based on or influenced by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Electronic Commerce.

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

Self-certification is allowed for foreign businesses. According to Chapter IX of the Telecommunications Law, Art. 61, any terminal, equipment or system likely to be connected to a public telecommunications network, or which uses the public telecommunications network, or which uses the public radio-electric domain, must have the corresponding homologation certificate. It is reported that the following products require INDOTEL’s approval: Tablets; Personal trackers; Wireless microphones; 3G/4G mobile phones; RFID equipment; Radio alarms; Laptops.

According to Art. 29 of Law No. 183-02, foreign exchange brokerage may only be carried out by authorised financial brokerage entities and by Exchange Agents. Art. 30 states that to be an Exchange Agent, it is necessary to be constituted as a joint stock company organised in accordance with the laws of the Dominican Republic, with the objects clause and the exclusive habitual activity of carrying out exchange intermediation in free market conditions in the national territory, as well as abroad under the modality of remittance company.

Under Art. 80 of Law No. 172-13, personal data may only be transferred internationally if the owner of the data expressly authorises such transfer or if such transfer is necessary for the performance of a contract between the owner of the data and the person or entity responsible for the treatment of the personal data. Data transfer is considered a form of 'treatment' of personal data under Art. 6.20 of Law.

The Dominican Republic has not acceded to any agreement with binding commitments to open data transfers across borders. However, Art. 13.2 of DR-CAFTA provides that "Each Party shall ensure that enterprises of another Party may use public telecommunications services for the movement of information in its territory or across its borders and for access to information contained in databases or otherwise stored in machine-readable form in the territory of any Party". Notwithstanding the foregoing, "a Party may take such measures as are necessary to: (a) ensure the security and confidentiality of messages; or (b) protect the privacy of non-public personal data of subscribers to public telecommunications services, subject to the requirement that such measures are not applied in a manner that would constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination or disguised restriction on trade in services".