The Revised Bangui Agreement is a regional intellectual property law that is not only a regional convention applicable in all member states but also serves as a national intellectual property law in Equatorial Guinea and each of the other member states. The Revised Bangui Agreement contains provisions on copyright in Annex VII: Chapter IV (Limitations to Economic Rights) and establishes a regime of copyright exceptions. However, the exceptions do not follow the fair use or fair dealing model, therefore limiting the lawful use of copyrighted work by others.

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

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

It is reported that the government requires internet service providers, whether local or foreign, to turn over source code.

Equatorial Guinea does not have a comprehensive framework in place that provides effective protection of trade secrets, but there are limited measures addressing some issues related to them. In particular, the country has established provisions addressing disclosure, acquisition or use of confidential information in the course of industrial or commercial activities by third parties in Art. 6 of Annex VIII of the Bangui Agreement, which has been ratified by 17 States, including Equatorial Guinea in 2002.

Art. 31 of the Ministerial Order No. 3/2020 requires economic agents operating public networks to facilitate access to their network centres and allow facility sharing.

The government owns shares in certain telecom companies. In particular, the main operator, Guinea Ecuatorial de Telecomunicaciones Sociedad Anónima (GETESA), is fully state-owned, although, in April 2022, the government announced plans for its privatisation. The government also owns 51% of Guinea Ecuatorial de Comunicaciones Sociedad Anónima (GECOMSA).

Equatorial Guinea does not mandate functional or accounting separation for operators with significant market power (SMP) in the telecom market.

The licensing regime in the telecom sector is regulated by Law No. 7/2005 and Ministerial Order No. 3/2020. Chapter IV of Law No. 7/2005 contains the regime of concessions and authorisations, which is further detailed in the Ministerial Order. According to Art. 34 of the Ministerial Order, certain telecom activities that are classified as "essential public telecommunications/ICT services" are subject to public service obligations, including financing the universal service and contributing to the Telecommunications Development Fund (Art. 36). Among others, the following are considered essential public telecommunications/ICT services: fixed telephony, broadband, 2G; 3G; 4G; and 5G mobile telephony and data services (Art. 6). Additionally, carrier services for the provision of voice, data, and broadband, as well as broadcasting services and their respective networks, are also considered essential.

It is reported that there is a lack of clarity about the applicable regulation on public procurement, which makes the procedures opaque, although a draft law on public procurement and contracts is reportedly under discussion. It is unclear whether the Public Procurement Law No. 923/1965 of 8 April (amended by Decree No. 4/1980) is still in force. This older framework is reported to be incomplete, it does not meet international standards, and it does not ensure transparency in the awarding of contracts. As a result, most contracts are awarded directly.

Equatorial Guinea is not a party to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), nor does it have observer status, as it is not a member of the WTO.

Equatorial Guinea is not a signatory of the 1996 World Trade Organization (WTO) Information Technology Agreement (ITA) nor the 2015 expansion (ITA II) as it is not a member of the WTO.

According to Law No. 6/1.990 on Special Regime for Investments of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), several fiscal, customs and administrative benefits are established for Equatoguinean SMEs, including preferential access to public bids in the branch of their activity (Art. 18). According to Art. 6, Equatoguinean SMEs are companies with the following characteristics: (i) natural persons of Equatoguinean nationality own them; (ii) their share capital is represented by at least 51% by nationals and the management functions are effectively exercised by nationals; (iii) the annual turnover does not exceed XAF 500,000,000 (approx. USD 835,000). The special regime only applies to certain sectors, which are listed in Art. 8, including manufacturing and graphics services.