There are no foreign ownership limitations in sectors relevant for digital trade.

It is reported that electronic funds transfers are limited to USD 10,000 per transaction for transfers to local bank accounts, while for external bank accounts, the limit is USD 50 million.

It is reported that the de minimis threshold, that is the minimum value of goods below which customs do not charge duties, is USD 15 (Intra-Southern African Customs Union) and USD 35 (Extra-Southern African Customs Union), below the 200 USD threshold recommended by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

Lesotho does not have a legal framework that applies consumer protection to online transactions.

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

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

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

Lesotho has established several limits on transactions that can be carried out with mobile money. Yet, in September 2020, the Central Bank of Lesotho informed that it had given authorisation to mobile money issuers to increase transaction limits for duly identified and verified mobile money customers. The Bank increased transaction limits to LSL17,500 (approx. USD 1,100) daily limit and LSL 30,000 (approx. USD 1,900) monthly limit for full KYC clients. For partial KYC clients, the transaction limits are LSL 10,000 (approx. USD 600) daily limit and LSL 20,000 (approx. USD 1,300) monthly limit. Customers are categorised into partial KYC and full KYC depending on the amount of information available to mobile money service providers.

Type approval procedures are regulated by the Lesotho Communications Authority (LCA). It is reported that the conformity requirements are similar to those of the European Union (Declaration of conformity according to EU directive 2014/53/EU). The homologation process in Lesotho does not require local laboratory testing or contact with local representatives.

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

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

According to the Lesotho Telecommunications Act, the Lesotho Communications Authority (LCA), the executive authority for the supervision and administration of services in the telecommunications sector, is independent from the government in the decision-making process.

Section 52 of the Data Protection Act of 2012 provides that the transfer of personal information abroad is permitted when the laws of the destination country are substantially similar to the information protection principles in Lesotho or when other conditions are met, including the data subject consent to the transfer, the use of binding corporate rules, or the necessity of the transfer for the performance of a contract between the data subject and data controller.

Lesotho has not joined any free trade agreement committing to open transfers of cross-border data flows.

The Data Protection Act provides a comprehensive regime of data protection in Lesotho. The Act sets out data subject rights, data processing notifications and the legal bases for processing. However, the Data Protection Commission provided for in the Data Protection Act is yet to be established.