Hong Kong has ratified the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty.

Hong Kong has ratified the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Performances and Phonograms Treaty.

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

India has enacted national legislation, namely the Information Technology Act, which is influenced by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Electronic Signatures.

Section 4 of the "Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021" provides that significant social media intermediaries, meaning social media intermediaries having a number of registered users in India above such threshold as may be notified by the government, and online gaming intermediaries that enable users to access any permissible online real‑money game, are required to appoint a Chief Compliance Officer, a Nodal Contact Person, and a Resident Grievance Officer, all of whom must be residents of India. Such intermediaries are also required to maintain a physical contact address in India and to publish this address on their website, mobile‑based application, or both.

Section 11 of the "Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021" stipulates that publishers of news and current affairs content, as well as publishers of online curated content, are required to appoint a Grievance Officer resident in India. The Grievance Officer serves as the designated point of contact for the receipt of grievances pertaining to the Code of Ethics and functions as the nodal interface for engagement with complainants, the self‑regulating body, and the Ministry.

The Consumer Protection Act, the Consumer Protection (E‑Commerce) Rules, and related legislation collectively establish a comprehensive framework for consumer protection that extends equally to online transactions.

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

The Indian government used to block purchases of telecom equipment from Chinese vendors on national security grounds. The Department of Telecommunications amended its license conditions for mobile service providers and required them to submit all plans for the procurement of telecom equipment from foreign vendors for screening and “security clearance” purposes. Although the amendment did not single out China, it is reported that, in practice, security agencies had been blocking applications involving Chinese vendors.
The aforesaid process is soon to be replaced with a new Directive, which will enter into force in mid-2021. The Department of Telecommunications will declare a list of trusted sources and products for installations in India's telecom network. The methodology to designate trusted products will be devised by the designated authority (National Cyber Security Coordinator). As per the directive, telecom service providers will be required to connect new devices from the list of trusted products. The list of trusted sources and products will be decided based on the approval of a committee headed by the deputy national security advisor. When announcing the directive, the Telecom and IT Minister said that measures will be taken to increase the use of equipment from trusted Indian sources.

According to Condition 37.1 of the License Agreement for Unified License, issued by the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Internet Service Provider licensees are prohibited from employing bulk encryption equipment in their networks. The licensor or officers designated for this purpose have the authority to evaluate any encryption equipment connected to the licensee's network. However, the licensee remains responsible for ensuring the protection of communication privacy and preventing unauthorised message interception.

According to Section 84A of the Information Technology Act, the Government may, for secure use of the electronic medium and for the promotion of e-governance and e-commerce, prescribe the modes or methods for encryption. However, no rules have been introduced under this section.

Since the implementation of the Consolidated FDI Policy Circular of 2016, last amended by the Consolidated FD) Policy Circular of 2020, India permits fully owned FDI in business-to-business (“marketplace-based”) electronic commerce, i.e. "providing an information technology platform by an e-commerce entity on a digital & electronic network to act as a facilitator between buyer and seller." However, India prohibits foreign investment in business-to-consumer (or “inventory-based”) electronic commerce, also defined as "e-commerce activity where the inventory of goods and services is owned by an e-commerce entity and is sold to the consumers directly".
When a marketplace e-commerce entity exercises ownership or control over the inventory, the business is categorised into the inventory-based model. Additionally, India implemented regulations that expressly prohibit subsidiaries of foreign-owned marketplace-based electronic commerce sites from selling products on their parent companies’ sites. The rules also prohibit exclusivity arrangements by which electronic commerce retailers can offer a product on an exclusive basis.
The only exceptions for FDI in inventory-based electronic commerce are for food-product retailing and single-brand retailers that meet certain conditions, including the operation of physical stores in India. According to Section 5.2.15.3 of the Consolidated FDI Policy Circular of 2020, retail trading through e-commerce can also be undertaken before opening physical stores, subject to the entity opening physical stores within two years from the start of online retail. Overall, it is reported that these narrow exceptions limit the ability of many electronic commerce service suppliers to serve the Indian market.

According to Section 2 of the Companies Act of 2013, foreign companies relating to B2B, B2C e-commerce, data interchange and other digital supply transactions, web-based marketing, database services, online services such as telemarketing, telecommuting, telemedicine, education and information research and all related data communication services, even when not incorporated in India, should register in India when they are engaged in business in the country.

According to Art. 2 of the Processing and Settlement of Export-related receipts facilitated by Online Payment Gateways from 2011, the Reserve Bank of India restricts export-related payments for goods and services through online payment gateways. It is reported that PayPal had to limit payments for export-related payments above 500 USD. From July 2013, this limit has been increased to USD 10,000.
In addition, according to Section 2 of the Storage of Payment System Data Directive, all payment data held by payment companies should be held in local facilities. Furthermore, according to section 5 of the directive, data must be stored only in India after processing and should be deleted from systems abroad and brought back to India no later than 24 hours after processing. Any subsequent activity, such as settlement processing after payment processing done outside India, must be undertaken on a real-time basis, pursuant to which the data must be stored only in India. However, The RBI has clarified that banks, especially foreign banks, can continue to store banking data abroad but in respect to domestic payment transactions, the data must be stored only in India.

Following a negative response from international payment companies such as MasterCard, Visa, and American Express, the RBI has proposed (in "Frequently Asked Questions" of its website) to ease this restriction so as to allow payment firms to store data offshore as long as a copy was kept in India. The RBI has further clarified that for cross-border transaction data consisting of a foreign component and a domestic component, a copy of the domestic component may be stored abroad if required.

In accordance with NPCI Notification: NPCI/UPI/SOP-01/2020-21, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), a state-owned entity, introduced a 30% market share cap for foreign electronic payment service providers processing online payments via India’s Unified Payment Interface (UPI), which is owned and operated by NPCI. Foreign digital payment companies were required to comply with this 30% market share limit by January 2023.