According to the GSO Technical Regulation for Low Voltage Electrical Equipment and Appliances – BD-142004-01, which includes an amendment and an update of the first edition, number (BD07070503) was implemented in 2007. Electrical appliances designed to be used in certain rated voltage range must be sold bearing G mark after being certified by the GCC Notified Body.
Products that fall under List 1 under the Regulation are low-risk; thus a self declaration form prepared by the manufacturer can be made affixing the “G” before placing the product on the market. Products that fall under List 2 are higher risk electrical products which will undergo mandatory Type testing and review of the product's Technical File to verify conformity before authorization is granted to affix the “G” mark before placing the product onto the market.
However, for List 2 products, manufacturers must choose a single Notified Body (NB) entity, to examine the technical design of a product and verify that the technical design of the product meets the requirements of the applicable Gulf Technical Regulations and for the issuance of an evaluation report with a Gulf Type Examination certificate and shall be issued certificate from the NB.

Under the Legislative Decree No. 68 of 2016, newspapers must obtain licenses from the mass media directorate in order to disseminate content on websites or social media. Moreover, under the Legislative Decree No. 47 of 2002, as amended in 2021, websites based on online journalism, news reporting, and broadcasting are required to register with and obtain the Ministry of Information Affairs' approval to operate.

In accordance with the Law No. 81 of 2006 with respect to Approving the Common Industrial Law of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Bahrain imposes a regime for import licensing and restrictions. Importers of several products must obtain an industrial licence from the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Tourism (MoICT). This licence may be issued only to a firm or an individual resident in Bahrain. It is valid for one year (renewable) and is transferable between importers. The products that the license regime apply to include electric motors, generators, transformers, and electricity distribution and control apparatus; batteries and accumulators; wiring and wiring devices; electric lighting equipment; domestic appliances, other electric equipment; machinery and equipment.

In August 2016, the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (TRA) ordered all telecom companies to employ a centralized system for blocking websites managed by the TRA with the Resolution No. 12 of 2016 Promulgating the Internet Safety Regulation. Under the Regulation, an Internet Service Provider (ISP) must ensure that it complies with any Website Compliance Request regarding websites to be blocked within 24 hours of receipt of such a request by the TRA. An ISP must also comply with the Unified Technical Solution to automatically prevent access to all websites recorded on the Prohibited Material List.

The indicator "6.2.4 - Government Internet shut down in practice" of the V-Dem Dataset, which measures whether the government has the technical capacity to actively make internet service cease, thus interrupting domestic access to the internet or whether the government has decided to do so, has a score of 3 in Bahrain. This corresponds to "Rarely but there have been a few occasions throughout the year when the government shut down domestic access to Internet."

It is reported that Bahraini national regulatory bodies have revoked licenses of operators that failed to install monitoring and filtering systems required by government authorities and are indifferent to user complaints about internet controls.

It is reported that some mobile live-streaming services including Ustream and Bambuser, and other websites that stream directly to Twitter like Twitcasting remained blocked in 2021.

In January 2021, as a result of a deal to restore ties with Qatar, Bahraini authorities unblocked some Qatari websites, including Qatari outlets Al-Sharq and Al-Raya. Other websites, including those belonging to Al-Jazeera and Qatar Airways, have remained blocked since May 2017, when Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) cut diplomatic ties with Qatar.

Art. 78 of the Legislative Decree No. 48 of 2002 Promulgating the Telecommunications Law provides that a licensed operator must provide all technical resources including telecom equipment, systems, and programs relating to its licensed telecom network that allow security agents to have access to the network for protecting national security. In addition, Art. 79 authorizes, in a state of national security or in a declaration of martial law, a competent authority to requisition the telecom services and networks of any licensed operator to address the circumstances. It is not clear whether a court order would be required.

Bahrain has a safe harbour regime in place for intermediaries for copyright infringements. Under Law No. 22 (Section IX), internet service providers (ISPs) are liable if, through their network or system, they are found to have deliberately instigated a copyright infringement violation, or participated in it to a significant degree, or are found responsible for it, having been aware of the infringing activity this. ISPs are not liable when they not control, initiate or direct the transmission of the material that takes place through the systems or networks controlled or operated by them or on their behalf; adopted and reasonably applied measures, including the termination (where appropriate) of accounts of subscribers who repeatedly commit violations; abide by the standard technological measures to identify and protect the material; the ISP does not make any change to the material.

Bahrain has a safe harbour regime in place for intermediaries beyond copyright infringement. The Legislative Decree No. 48 of 2002 Promulgating the Telecommunications Law penalizes transmitting online messages that are offensive to public policy or morals under Art. 75. A telecommunication service provider can be criminally liable if such offences provided for in this Law are committed in its name, for its account or by using its equipment or network as a result of an act, material negligence, consent or acquiescence of any board member, director or any other person responsible within that juristic entity or by those acting in such capacity.

Under the Resolution No. 13 of 2015, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority requires users to provide identification when registering for telecommunications services. The government prohibits the sale or use of unregistered prepaid SIM cards.

The Law No. 30 of 2018 issuing the Personal Data Protection Law, enacted in 2018, covers the provisions for automated data processing, in whole or in part, the general legality framework, the provisions for the transfer of personal data outside the Kingdom, and the establishment and organisation of the competent authority.

According to Art. 9.1 of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA)'s Board of Directors Resolution No. 8, a licensee shall undertake to retain access-related information for one year from the date of each call that is successfully made between two or more parties whether it results in conveying call content or not. Moreover, it is reported that since 2009, the TRA has mandated that all telecommunications companies keep a record of customers’ phone calls, emails, and website visits for up to three years.

Order No. 43 provides that a controller may conduct a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA), taking into account the nature, scope, context and purposes of the processing, and high risks of processing on the rights and freedoms of natural persons (Art. 3(1)). Furthermore, Art. 3(3) states that controllers should conduct DPIAs in the following cases:
- Cases stipulated in Art. 22(1) of Law No. 30, or a systematic and extensive evaluation of personal aspects relating to natural persons which is based on automated processing, including profiling, and on which decisions are based that produce legal effects concerning the natural person or similarly significantly affect the natural person;
- When processing on a large scale of special categories of data or of personal data relating instituting and pursuing of criminal proceedings, and related judgements referred to Art. 7 of Law No. 30; or
- When processing amounts to a systematic monitoring of a publicly accessible area on a large scale.