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. L122-5 of the French Intellectual Property Code establishes far-reaching copyright exemptions, including private reproductions, analyses and critique, parodies, and pedagogical uses.

France is a party to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

Under the Regulation 2019/452, Member States may maintain their existing investments screening mechanisms (21 Member States currently do), adopt new ones or remain without such national mechanisms. The Commission keeps an up-to-date list of screening laws in the EU. Member States must notify the Commission who may issue an opinion when an investment threatens the security or public order of more than one Member State, or when an investment could undermine a strategic project or programme of interest to the whole EU, such as Horizon 2020 or Galileo. The final decision remains with the Member State.
The Decree 2019-1590 in France establishes an investment screening procedure for foreign acquisitions of French companies in critical sectors such as the security of information systems, cryptography, surveillance, digital security audits, gambling except casinos, telecommunications networks, media (Art. R151-3). The acquisition of 25% of voting shares does not fall under the screening procedure if the home state of the investor is part of the EU and/or has concluded an agreement to combat fiscal fraud with France. When implementing the procedure, the Ministry for the Economy considers the perennity of the activities in question on French territory, the potential for maintaining the know-how related to them in France, the governance modalities of the resulting company and information modalities (Art. R151-8). The Ministry can refuse the operation or place it under certain conditions. In 2020, the acquisition of the French photonic sensor manufacturer Photonis by US-based Teledyne was blocked.

Art. 85 of the Utilities Directive (2014/25/EU) contains provisions allowing contracting public entities to reject foreign goods not covered by any EU international commitments from its tender procedures. In these cases, a tender submitted for the award of a supply contract may be rejected where the proportion of the products originating in third countries exceeds 50% of the total value of the products constituting the tender (Art. 85.2). Additionally, in cases of equivalent offers, the provisions provide for a preference for European tenders and tenders covered by EU's international obligations. In practice, this possibility has rarely been used.
In France, the Directive has been transposed with the Public Order Code (CCP), which contains the provisions governing public order contracts, following a distinction between public contracts and concessions.

Under Section 19.6 of the Cloud computing service providers (SecNumCloud)
requirements repository, providers which are subject to non-EU law, either because of their residency or their ownership, are excluded. France's Policy on the Security of Information Systems of the State states that if certificates are available, certified products or services are to be preferred, effectively putting non-EU providers at a disadvantage.

It is reported that the lack of transparency is a challenge for public procurement procedures in France, especially for foreign bidders, including with respect to overly narrow definitions of tenders, and implicit biases in favor of local vendors and state-owned enterprises.

The Public Procurement Code, Chapter 3, Section 1, stipulates that French public authorities shall guarantee equivalent treatment to economic operators and works, supplies and services from States that are signatory to the WTO Government Procurement act and economic operators from EU Member States. In other cases, authorities may introduce criteria or restrictions in the tender documents based on the origin of the goods or services.

It is reported that SecNumCloud’s “sovereignty requirements” disadvantage—and effectively preclude—foreign cloud firms from providing services to government agencies. The latest SecNumCloud guidance retains foreign ownership and board limits, which would effectively force foreign firms to set up a local joint venture to be certified under SecNumCloud as “trusted” and thus able to manage European data and digital services. These new provisions are in addition to its current use as a de facto discriminatory barrier as France has not certified firms from other EU member states and from outside the EU. Since 2016, only four companies, all French, have been certified (3DS Outscale (a subsidiary of Dassault Systems), OVHcloud, Oodrive, and Worldline Cloud services). It is mandatory for public agencies to use SecNumCloud certified services. Art. 19.6 of the SecNumCloud’s requires that cloud service providers be “immune to non-EU laws,” established via corporate ownership structure limitations. Specifically, the law specifies that individual shareholders outside the EU cannot possess more than 25% of the company, and collectively 39% of the value and voting rights of the company. They also cannot have veto rights, nor can they nominate a majority of members of boards. Together, all of these requirements essentially preclude majority foreign owned and run cloud firms from SecNumCloud certification.

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

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

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

The Consumer Rights Directive 2011/83/EU provides an updated framework aimed at encouraging online sales. The Directive has been implemented by the Finnish Consumer Protection Act 2005.

The Act on Electronic Communications Services implements the EU toolbox on securing the security and protection of critical parts of the communications network. The Act gives the Finnish government powers to deem certain telecommunications components and equipment a threat to national security and exclude them from the Finnish network. While the Act does not explicitly name Huawei or ZTE, as other EU member states have, it is likely that components from these telecommunications providers will face heightened scrutiny or possible bans.

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 2020, the Finnish parliament transposed the Directive by amending the 2014 Act on Electronic Communications Services. Section 209 of the amended Act states the 30% quota on European works. Finland has not imposed further local preference requirements on streaming services, unlike other EU member states that have set laws on streaming service investment requirements in local markets as well.

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 Finland, the Act 458/2002 on Information Society Services and Electronic Commerce implements the E-Commerce Directive almost verbatim, but at the same time it has some important distinctions such as not implementing Art. 15 on prohibition of monitoring obligations.