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.

Pursuant to Art. 9(2) of the Patents Regulations, the Registrar will not accept an application for a patent relating to an invention communicated from abroad, or an application filed by a person who is not resident in Guyana at the time of filing, unless the application is submitted through a licensed patent agent. Under Art. 101 of the Patents and Designs Act, the Registrar may grant renewable annual licences to fit and proper Commonwealth citizens who are patent agents.

Pursuant to Art. 7 of the Regulations, every applicant and every person who is, or subsequently becomes, a patentee must provide the Registrar with an address for service in Guyana. For all purposes connected with the relevant proceedings or patent, that address may be treated as the applicant’s, opponent’s, or patentee’s effective address.

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

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 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.

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