Patent applicants are required to appoint a local agent if the applicant is not a resident of Bahrain. Any attorney or lawyer registered to practice before the Patent Office can act as an agent. Art. 5 of Law No. 1 of 2004 in respect of the Patent and Utility Module provides that: "any natural or legal person shall be entitled to file a patent application and acquire the subsequent rights ensuing therefrom subject to the provisions of this law. Eligible applicants may be nationals of the Kingdom, nationals of countries that are members in the World Trade Organization, or nationals of any other country who enjoy national treatment."

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

Under the Legislative Decree No. 21 of 2001 (the Commercial Companies Law) all investments and transactions in Bahrain are subject to a screening process conducted by the Ministry of Industry, Commercen, and Tourism (MoICT). The investments and transactions must observe national security requirements and public order. Those that are considered by the authorities to pose a national security risk will not be approved. Over the past year, the Ministry of the MoICT created an additional disclosure requirement where companies are required to disclose the ultimate beneficial owner of their shareholders owning at least 10% of the share capital.

It is reported that price preferences are given in public procurement to goods produced in Bahrain and in other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member States, provided that the prices of these goods are within specified margins of the value of their imported equivalents (10% for goods produced in Bahrain and 5% for goods produced in the GCC).

Bahrain is not a party to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA). However, the country has been an observer of the WTO GPA since 2008.

The Legislative Decree No. 36 of 2002 established a public procurement regime in Bahrain. The Decree distinguishes between local tenders and international tenders. Local tenders are limited to suppliers or contractors who are authorized to carry on business activities in the Kingdom of Bahrain according to the applicable laws and regulations. International tenders are open to both local suppliers and contractors and international suppliers and contractors who are unregistered in the Kingdom may participate. The criteria for distinction between local and international tenders shall be based upon the nature of goods, constructions or services required to be purchased, volume thereof, extent of their complexity and standards required. The Board shall be empowered to determine the reasons for selection of an international tender on the basis of such criteria.

The Cabinet’s Resolutions No. 2416-06 of 2017 allocates a 20% share of the value of government procurements and tenders to SMEs and grants them 10% preference in the biddings of service facilities for all public tenders, except for those of a special nature. The classification criteria through the size of the enterprises in the SMEs Registration System, excludes a branch of a foreign company from the SMEs classification. The SMEs Registration System is a window launched under the Resolution to enables SMEs to apply for classification certificates according to their size.

Bahrain is a signatory of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Information Technology Agreement (ITA) of 1996, but is not a signatory of its 2015 expansion (ITA II).

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

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

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

According to Ar. 3 of Resolution No. 43/2019, procedures related to domain names are done through a special platform called TAD (Trámites a Distancia). To use the platforms, the residents must use their tax ID, while non-residents must obtain an identification number that is provided by Network Information Center (NIC) Argentina (Art.4). Users of this platform can appoint an agent who takes the necessary steps to register, renew and manage domain names on their behalf (Art.5).
Besides this general procedure, NIC Argentina has established some additional requirements for special ccTLDs (country code top-level domain) such as "tur.ar", "musica.ar", "gob.ar" and "org.ar". To be able to register these domain names the applicant must provide evidence that it is registered as an authorised tourist agency (for "tur.ar"), registered at the Registry of the Musical Activity of the National Institute of Music or Registry of National Musicians (for "musica.ar"), a government entity (for "gob.ar") or a non-profit organisation (for "org.ar").

The Consumer Protection Law and the Digital Signature Law provide a comprehensive framework for consumer protection that also applies to online transactions. Arts. 10 and 33 of Law 24,240 (as amended by the Consumer Protection Law 26.361 of 2008) regulate purchases through telecommunications, postal or electronic means. The law establishes that “when services, including public services, are contracted online or by phone, the provision of such services may be canceled in the same way as they were contracted, at the consumer's discretion”. In addition, the supplier has 72 hours after the cancellation of services to send a record of such cancellation (without cost) to the relevant consumer or user.

Pursuant to Communication A 6823, cash advances made abroad from local credit cards are limited to a maximum of 50 USD per transaction. Companies and individuals need to obtain prior clearance from the Central Bank before transferring funds abroad, including dividend payments, or paying for services rendered to a company by foreign affiliates. If transfers are made from their own foreign currency accounts in Argentina to their own accounts abroad, individuals do not need to obtain Central Bank approval.