The Electronic Transactions Law provides a safe harbour regime for intermediaries beyond copyright infringement. According to Art. 14.1 of the law, an Intermediary shall not be held responsible civilly or criminally for any information received in the form of electronic records concerning a third party if the Intermediary is not the originator of such information and his role is restricted to providing access to such information if such responsibility arises on:
- Originating or publishing or distributing such information or any data included therein.
-Trespassing on any of the personal rights related to such information.
For absolving the Intermediary from responsibility based on the above, the following shall be ascertained:
- He has no knowledge of any facts or circumstances, in the ordinary course of things, capable of creating criminal or civil responsibility; and
- In case of his knowledge of any of the above, he has immediately removed all information from any information system under his control and stopped access to or display of such information.

It is reported that Oman 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.

Oman has not joined any agreement with binding commitments to open transfers of data across borders.

Oman does not have a comprehensive regime for all personal data, but has sectoral regulations. The current regulations only cover the protection of electronic data through the Royal Decree No. 69/2008 on Electronic Transactions Law. According to Art. 43 of the law, any government agency or authentication service provider may collect personal data directly from the data subject or third parties after their explicit approval, solely for the purpose of issuing or retaining a certificate or facilitating such issuance or retention. However, it is not permitted to collect, process or use such data for any other purpose without the explicit consent of the person from whom it is collected. A comprehensive data protection framework will be introduced under the Data Protection Law 2022, which will come into force in February 2023.

Art. 23 of the Personal Data Protection Law provides that the controller may transfer personal data outside the borders of the Sultanate of Oman, in accordance with the controls and procedures determined by the Executive Regulations. Further, the Law prohibits transferring personal data which has been processed in violation of its provisions or if the transfer would cause harm to the data subject.

Oman has appended the World Trade Organization (WTO) Telecom Reference Paper to its schedule of commitments.

Oman has a telecommunications authority: Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA). However, it is reported that the decision-making process of this entity is not fully independent from the government.

It is reported that the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) requires service providers to house servers in Oman if they provide services in the country. However, no regulatory provision has been identified in this area.

Although there are six mobile network operators in 2020 to serve approximately four million people in Oman, the major player is a government-owned telecommunication company called Omantel. The government owns a 70% stake in the company.

It is reported that Oman does not mandate functional separation for operators with significant market power (SMP) in the telecom market. However, there is an obligation of accounting separation.

Pursuant to the Telecommunications Regulatory Act, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority issued Decision No. 37/2008. In accordance with Arts. 4 and 5, dealing in encryption systems or equipment should only be permitted after obtaining the Authority’s approval. The following are required to obtain the Authority’s approval to deal in encryption systems or equipment:
- Registration with the Authority to deal in encryption systems or equipment;
- Submission of a statement showing type and specifications of all encryption systems or equipment intended to deal in;
- A sample of the encryption system or equipment intended to deal in, whenever requested by the Authority. Where samples are submitted, the Authority may retain them in whole or in part if the work interest so requires;
- Information as requested by the Authority regarding the dealing user;
In addition, the Authority may scrutinize and inspect the encryption systems or equipment before licensing their usage, and it may, whenever necessary, retain a sample and obtain the key (Art. 9).

The country has a framework in place that provides effective protection of trade secrets. Royal Decree No. 38/2000 on Law on Trademarks establishes broad protections for trade secrets, within the law a trade secret is defined as such if "due to its nature, it is not known, it draws its commercial value from its confidentiality, reasonable measures have been taken to maintain its confidentiality or it is not easily accessible to an ordinary person having skill in the art". Sanctions against the disclosure of trade secrets include fines and imprisonment.

It is reported that there is an obligation for passive infrastructure sharing in Oman to deliver telecom services to end users. It is practiced in the mobile sector and in the fixed sector based on commercial agreements.

Oman ratified the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty.

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