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

Ethiopia does not have a comprehensive regime in place for all personal data, but it has sectoral regulations. These include, for instance, laws regulating the financial sector and others, which confer authority on various bodies to safeguard privacy. Notably, the Communication Services Proclamation No. 1148/2019 establishes the Ethiopian Communication Authority, which is tasked with promoting data privacy. Moreover, the Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia of 1995 enshrines the right to privacy.
In a significant development, it was reported that in April 2024, the Ethiopian Parliament approved Proclamation No. 1321/2016 concerning the Personal Data Protection Bill. If enacted, this legislation will introduce comprehensive provisions for data subject rights, data processing principles, and the establishment of an independent supervisory authority. Additionally, the Bill will impose restrictions on the transfer of data to third-party jurisdictions and introduce requirements such as the appointment of a DPO, the reporting of data breaches, and the performance of DPIAs.

Under Art. 24 of the Computer Crime Proclamation No. 958/2016, all service providers must retain the computer traffic data disseminated through their computer systems or traffic data relating to data processing or communication services for one year. Service provider is defined as a person who provides technical data processing or communication service or alternative infrastructure to users by means of computer system.

Art. 29 .1 of the Electronic Signature Proclamation No. 1072/2018 requires that any certificate provider for electronic signatures shall keep custody of any information related to certificate issuance, suspension, revocation or related services for two years. Any certificate provider who fails to keep custody of the above information shall be punished with a fine up to 150,000.00 ETB (approx. 2900 USD). Art. 25 (3) states that the certificate provider shall retain a copy of the subscribers’ encryption key at all times. Art. 18 (2) of the same law states that a certificate provider who wishes to terminate its certification service shall transfer its subscriber certificates and related records to another certificate provider or authority. A certificate provider is a business entity that issues digital certificates and provides encryption services and time stamp services.

The Computer Crime Proclamation No. 958/2016, and the Electronic Transaction Proclamation 1205/2020 establish a safe harbour regime for intermediaries for copyright infringements. According to Art. 16 of the Computer Crime Proclamation, intermediaries are shielded from liability unless they are directly involved in disseminating or editing criminal content data, or fail to take necessary measures to remove or disable access to illegal content data upon becoming aware of its existence. Additionally, Art. 23 of the Electronic Transaction Proclamation specifies that intermediaries cannot be held liable for transmitted information provided they do not monitor online communication, initiate transmissions, select receivers, or modify transmitted information.
Furthermore, Art. 24 absolves intermediaries from liability for the temporary storage of electronic records if such storage aims to facilitate efficient transmission of electronic messages to recipients who requested them. Moreover, Art. 25 extends protection to hosting service providers, relieving them of liability for damages resulting from stored information if they are unaware of any harm or take immediate action upon becoming aware of it.

Ethiopia has not signed the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty.

Ethiopia has not signed the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Performances and Phonograms Treaty.

Ethiopia lacks a comprehensive regime for the protection of trade secrets.

It is reported that there is no obligation for passive infrastructure sharing in Ethiopia to deliver telecom services to end users, and it is not practised in the mobile sector and in the fixed sector based on commercial agreements.

Law No. 649/2009 gives some preferential treatment to domestic goods or services suppliers over foreign suppliers in some cases. Art. 25 states that some preference margin can be granted for works carried out by Ethiopian nationals and for consultancy services rendered by Ethiopian nationals. The preferences can also be extended to SMEs that are established in accordance with the Small and Micro-Enterprises Proclamation. The Law mandates the Minister to issue directives determining the preference margin.
According to the Federal Government Public Procurement Directive of June 2020, preference margins are prescribed in Art. 16.20.2 as follows:
- For procurement of medical equipment: 25%;
- For procurement of other products: 15%;
- For construction and consultancy services: 7.5%.
For SMEs, these margins in Art. 16.20.2 only applies in International Competitive bidding as per Art. 16.20.5 of the Directive, in contrast to a 3% margin when competing with local suppliers in national competitive bidding. The provision of preferences granted to medical equipment or other products is subject to an additional requirement of not less than 35% of the production occurring in Ethiopia, certified by a competent auditor as per Art. 16.20.3 of the Directive.

Ethio-Telecom is the incumbent telecom provider and it remained the only provider until recently with the coming into force of the Proclamation No. 1148/2019. The company is fully state-owned.

It is reported that major procurements do not go through a transparent tendering process. Obstacles to foreign participation in government procurement tenders include complicated and inadequately established procedures, capacity gaps on the part of procurement agencies, delays in decision-making, lack of public information, and the need for personal connections to effectively compete. According to the report, at least one large company has had its multi-million-dollar contract with the government abruptly modified with little explanation and no apparent due process.

Ethiopia a is not a party to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) nor does it have observer status.

The Investment Regulation No. 474/2020, implementing the Investment Proclamation No. 1180/2020, reserves some areas of investment just for domestic investors. Art. 4.22 exclusively reserves investment in media services for domestic investors only. Complementary to the investment regulation, the Media Proclamation No. 1238/2021, under Art. 22 .1 reserves investment in the media sector for Ethiopian nationals only. The Media Proclamation defines media as "news agencies and all organs established to provide news or programs or news and programs to the public via periodicals, broadcasting service, and online media".

According to Art. 5(1/f/) and 5.2 of the Investment Regulation No. 474/2020, foreign share capital in audiovisual services, including film/music production and distribution, is capped at 49%. It is not clear whether this restriction also applies online.