Guyana has a clear regime of copyright exceptions that follows the fair dealing model, which enables the lawful use of copyrighted work by others without obtaining permission. Arts. 6-10 of the Copyright Act (amended by the Copyright (British Guiana) Order, 1966) establishes the exceptions, which include purposes of research, private study, criticism or review, among others.

Guyana maintains a legal framework governing intellectual property rights, including patents. However, reported enforcement capacity remains limited, which weakens practical safeguards and facilitates the relatively uninhibited distribution and sale of unlawfully obtained content. It is further reported that, even where rights are formally registered, effective enforcement mechanisms to protect intellectual property rights are lacking in practice.

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

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

Guyana lacks a comprehensive framework for the effective protection of trade secrets, but the Competition and Fair Trading Act of 2006 and the Access to Information Act of 2011 provide limited measures addressing some issues related to trade secrets.

Guyana imposes an obligation to share passive telecommunications infrastructure for the provision of services to end users. In practice, passive infrastructure sharing is also implemented in both the mobile and fixed sectors through commercial agreements.
Under section 42 of the Telecommunications Act 2016, where an operator requests access, for the purposes of installing, operating, or maintaining its network, to any road, conduit, pole, cable, works, or other facility of a public utility, or where a public utility requests access to an operator’s facilities, the request is governed by section 42 and the applicable regulations.
These obligations are further elaborated in Art. 8 of the Telecommunications (Interconnection and Access) Regulations 2020, which requires every operator, service provider, and public utility to: (i) provide timely access, upon written request, to any facility it owns or controls on an unbundled and non-discriminatory basis, including physical access and the ability to install, operate, maintain, and repair equipment; and (ii) negotiate access agreements in good faith and in accordance with the Regulations. Art. 8.2 further specifies that operators and service providers must provide access to roads, ducts, conduits, poles, towers, cables, and other elements of their facilities (or public utility facilities, as applicable) for joint use and allocation, consistent with section 42 of the Act.

According to Art. 38.7 of the Telecommunications Act, the Public Utilities Commission may, where it deems appropriate, require that an operator or a service provider put into effect accounting separation between different portions of its telecommunications networks, facilities, and telecommunications services. However, it is reported that functional separation of SMP/dominant network operator(s) is not required by law.

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

According to Art. 39.6 (b) of the Procurement Act 2003, there is a 10% margin of preference for domestic providers or domestically produced goods. However, it is reported that this margin is rarely utilised.

Under Art. 11 of the Small Business Act 2004, the Government must use its best endeavours to ensure that at least 20% of its annual procurement of goods, services and works is sourced from small businesses. To support this objective, the Small Business Council is required to prepare an annual Small Business Procurement Programme.
In addition, Art. 3A of the Procurement Act 2003, introduced by Art. 2 of the Procurement (Amendment) Act 2019, requires procuring entities to purchase specified goods and services exclusively from small businesses approved under the Small Business Act 2004.
Under Art. 2 of the Small Business Act, a qualifying small business must operate in Guyana and be incorporated or registered under the relevant Guyanese legislation. Accordingly, cross-border foreign suppliers are excluded from procurement reserved for small businesses, although a foreign-owned company established and registered in Guyana may potentially qualify.
Official implementation materials indicated that government contracts valued at up to GYD 30 million (approx. USD 144,000) would be reserved for small businesses. However, no regulations specifying the goods and services covered by Art. 3A have been identified.

Concerns regarding inefficiencies, corruption and non-transparency in Guyana’s public procurement system have been reported since at least 2011, when the Auditor General was cited as identifying continued disregard for the procedures, rules and laws governing public procurement. Since 2019, reports have also highlighted inefficiencies, possible collusion and non-transparency in contract-award procedures. More specifically, since 2022, government tender processes have been described as slow and opaque, with tenders sometimes changing, expiring or being reissued without timely decisions or adequate communication to bidders. Reports of procurement breaches and contract overpayments continued to be identified in 2025.

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

According to Art. 12 of the Investment Act, an investment company may be wholly owned by foreign or domestic investors. According to Art. 5 of the Companies Act, incorporation in Guyana does not require residency, but according to Art. 312 external companies must register with the government to conduct business in the country. Under the Business Registration Act, Guyanese companies must use the real surnames of their incorporators or be registered with the government.

In accordance with Art. 214 of the Guatemalan Commercial Code, companies legally constituted abroad that wish to establish or operate in any form in the country, or to have one or more branches or agencies, must have at least one representative permanently in the country.