Art. 5 (1/e/) of the Investment Regulation No. 474/2020 (which implements the Investment Proclamation No. 1180/2020) reserves some areas of investment including advertisement and promotion for joint investment with domestic investors only. In other words, a foreign investor can only invest in the advertisement service sector in joint venture with an Ethiopian domestic investor. The scope of the law includes advertisement disseminated through the internet website being designed in Ethiopia or abroad (Section 3.3). Previously there was a ban to foreign investment in the advertising sector.

As stipulated under Art. 3(5) and 5(1/f/) of the Investment Regulation No. 474/2020, some investment areas such as postal services (excluding courier services) are reserved for a joint investment with the government of Ethiopia, while foreign investment in audiovisual service including film/music production and distribution is restricted to joint venture scheme with the nationals.

The Investment Proclamation No. 1180/2020 (implemented by Regulation No. 474/2020) prescribes a screening criterion on foreign investments in terms of minimum capital requirements. Art. 9 of the proclamation states that any foreign investor is required to allocate a minimum capital of USD 200,000 for a single investment project, in order to be allowed to invest in the country. If the foreign investor is going to work in a joint venture with a domestic investor, then the minimum capital requirement shall be USD 150,000. If the foreign investor is investing in architectural or engineering works or related technical consultancy services, technical testing and analysis or in publishing works, then the minimum capital requirement can be lowered to USD 50,000. This kind of capital requirement is one of the screening methods that the law uses to prevent small or start-up foreign investors from working in Ethiopia.

The Inventions, Minor Inventions and Industrial Designs Proclamation No. 123/1995 assigns the same protection to local and foreign rights holders, once the foreign patents are re-registered in Ethiopia. However, according to Art. 9.7, an applicant who is not domiciled or who has not established business in Ethiopia shall appoint an agent who is domiciled in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is not a party to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

Ethiopia has a copyright regime under the Copyright and Neighboring Rights Protection Proclamation No. 410/2004. However, the exceptions do not follow the fair use or fair dealing model, therefore limiting the lawful use of copyrighted work by others. Arts. 9-11 list the exceptions, which include reproduction for personal Purposes and reproduction for teaching; among others.

Copyright is not adequately enforced online in Ethiopia. High levels of software piracy and weak enforcement are reported, which can negatively affect digital commerce. In addition, given the lack of enforcement capacity and coordination among Ethiopian Government agencies, IP enforcement is reported to be inconsistent.
It is also relevant to mention that, according to Art. 3 of the Copyright and Neighboring Rights Protection Proclamation No. 410/2004, a certain work published/printed/released or made available to the public outside Ethiopia can only receive legal protection in Ethiopia if it is published or released in the country. Otherwise, foreign right holders are not accorded national treatment as Ethiopia did not sign any international conventions on copyright.

Ethiopia is not a signatory of the 1996 World Trade Organization (WTO) Information Technology Agreement (ITA) nor the 2015 expansion (ITA II).

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

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

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

Eswatini has adopted national legislation based on or influenced by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Electronic Commerce.

A basic legal framework on intermediary liability beyond copyright infringement is absent in Eswatini's law and jurisprudence.