According to Art. 27 of the Trade Licensing Act, any person wishing to commence a service business must obtain a license and pay an annual fee. Any person who carries on a business without first obtaining a license from the Board commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction for each offence to a fine not exceeding 100 BZD (approx. 50 USD).

According to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) Resolution, no person or entity shall import, install, sell or use any telecom equipment in Belize without a permit from the PUC.

It is reported that all products that utilise radio frequency and cellular technologies require the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) type approval and certification before import and commercialisation. According to Art. 5.1 of Statutory Instrument 152, the PUC may recognise approvals granted by other countries. In addition, according to Art. 5.3, where a licensed telecommunications operator wishes to supply customer premises equipment and related services, it shall be sufficient if that operator attaches a report to the application showing that the equipment has conformed to the acceptance testing requirements or international type approval. Finally, it is reported that Belize does not require in-country testing, local representation, or specific labelling. However, technical documents will be reviewed and validated by the PUC during the approval process.

According to Art. 16 of the Telecommunications Act, the Public Utilities Commission of Belize (PUC) may consider any element of national interest, policy or security in granting a license. In addition, under Art. 18, the PUC, in granting the license, shall require the licensee, at the request of the Government, to cooperate with the Minister in national security matters. In addition, according to Art. 19, the PUC may suspend, modify, revoke or refuse to renew a license for national security or public interest reasons.

Belize has only partially attached the WTO Telecom Reference Paper to its schedule of commitments.

According to Arts. 3 and 22 of the Public Utilities Commission Act, there shall be an autonomous institution known as the Public Utilities Commission, which ensures that the public services are satisfactory and the charges imposed by the public services are reasonable. This institution shall regulate, among others, the telecommunications sector.

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

The country does not have a comprehensive regime in place for all personal data, but it has sectoral regulations including:
- The Public Sector Data Sharing Act;
- The Electronic Transactions Act;
- The Electronic Evidence Act;
- The Electronic Transfer of Funds Crimes Act;
- The Digital Government Act.
In addition, the Data Protection Law was signed in November 2021, however it has not yet entered into force. According to Art. 97, the law comes into force on a day to be appointed by the Minister by Order published in the Gazette. The law will provide a comprehensive regime of data protection in Belize. It promotes the protection of personal data processed by public and private bodies and provides for the establishment of the office of information commissioner and related matters.

According to Art. 61 of the Patents Act, every applicant for a patent whose ordinary residence or principal place of business is outside Belize shall be represented by an attorney-at-law (as an agent) who is resident in Belize and practicing in Belize in accordance with the relevant law.

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

Belize has a clear regime under the Copyright Act 2000 of copyright exceptions that follow the fair dealing model, which enables the lawful use of copyrighted work by others without obtaining permission. Arts. 55-85 list the exceptions, which include: research and private study (Art 56); criticism, review, and reporting (Art 57); educational purposes (Arts. 60-65); copying by librarians or archivists (Arts. 66 to 70); public administration (Arts.71-72); literary, dramatic, musical, or artistic works (Sections 76-80); among others.

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

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

Belize lacks a comprehensive framework in place that provides effective protection of trade secrets, but there are limited measures addressing some issues related to them in the Freedom of Information Act, 1994 (Art. 29) and the Public Sector Data Sharing Act, 2021 (Art. 11).

According to Art. 4 of the Infrastructure Sharing Regulations, all licensees shall (i) have a right and, when requested, an obligation to negotiate the sharing of infrastructure and facilities with each other for the purpose of providing public telecommunications services, or for any other purpose deemed to be in the public interest by the Commission; (ii) negotiate in good faith with each other on matters concerning the sharing of infrastructure and facilities; (iii) neither withdraw from nor impair arrangements for the sharing of infrastructure and facilities once already granted, unless authorised to do so by the Commission. Furthermore, pursuant to Art. 7 of the Regulations, a licensee shall provide infrastructure and facilities sharing under the same terms and conditions as that offered to any other licensee.