Bahrain has not appended the World Trade Organization (WTO) Telecom Reference Paper to its schedule of commitments.

It is reported that the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), the executive authority for the supervision and administration of services in the telecommunications sector, is independent from the government in the decision-making process.

According to Art. 59 of the Central Bank of Bahrain and Financial Institutions Law of 2006, a licensee must keep accounting records, other records that the Central Bank may specify, and separate records for each branch abroad providing any of the services that are subject to the law. Insurance and reinsurance companies must keep records as specified by the Central Bank, including insurance contracts signed by the company, claims made against it and actions taken thereon, reinsurance contracts entered into by the company, and funds to be maintained according to the law (Art. 59). Art. 60 states that the period for which the companies must keep the data is at least ten years and the documents have to be retained at the licensee's main office in Bahrain, or at such other places as the Central Bank may approve.

OM-6.3.1 of the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) Rulebook provides that conventional bank licensees must maintain the following records in original form or in hard copy at their premises in Bahrain:
- Internal policies, procedures and operating manuals;
- Corporate records, including minutes of shareholders', directors' and management meetings;
- Correspondence with the CBB and records relevant to monitoring compliance with CBB requirements;
- Reports prepared by the conventional bank licensee's internal and external auditors; and
- Employee training manuals and records.
Conventional bank licensees are banks licensed by CBB under Volume 1 of the CBB Rulebook and generally operate according to conventional finance principles, as opposed to operating in accordance with Islamic finance principles.

According to Art. 12 of Law No. 30 of 2018, the transfer of personal data out of Bahrain is prohibited unless the transfer is made to a country or region that provides sufficient protection to personal data. Alternatively, data controllers can also transfer personal data to countries that are not determined to have sufficient protection of personal data under several circumstances, including a permission to be issued by the Authority on a case-by-case basis, the consent of the data subject and the necessity to conclude a contract (Art. 13).
Order No. 42 establishes a list of countries that have been deemed by the Authority to provide an adequate level of data protection. The adequacy list includes 83 countries, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt, India, all EU countries, the UK, and the U.S. Controllers may transfer personal data to any country on the adequacy list without needing to obtain any authorisation from the Authority (Art. 2).

Art. 2 of Order No. 45 of 2022 provides that sensitive personal data should not be processed without the consent of the data subject unless one of the cases of Art. 5 of Law No. 30 of 2018 applies. These include:
- The processing is required by the data controllers for their duties and the exercise of their legally prescribed rights in the field of labour relations that binds them to their employees;
- The processing is necessary to protect any person if the data subject, their custodian, guardian, or trustee is not legally able to give their consent and is subject to obtaining prior permission from the Authority;
- The processed data was provided by the data subject to the public;
- The processing is necessary to initiate or defend any legal rights claim, including what is required in preparation for the matter;
- The processing is necessary for the purposes of preventive medicine, medical diagnosis, provisions of health care, treatment, or management of health care services by a licensed medical practitioner or any person legally bound to maintain confidentiality.
Controllers also have to implement additional organisational rules when processing sensitive personal data, including appropriate high-level technical measures to ensure a high degree of protection against secrecy, breach or unlawful processing of such data (Art. 4 of Order No. 45).
Processing is broadly defined in Art. 1 of Law No. 30 and includes disclosing by transmission, dissemination, transference or otherwise making available for others.

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

Bahrain has not joined any agreement with binding commitments to open transfers of data across borders.

Bahrain has a copyright regime under Law No. 22 of 2006 on the Protection of Copyright and Neighbouring Rights. However, the exceptions do not follow the fair use or fair dealing model, limiting the lawful use of copyrighted work by others. Arts. 19-30 list the exceptions, which include: uses for non­-profit archives or libraries to make one photocopy of a work without the consent of the author and without paying compensation; and reproduction from a work to be used in judicial or administrative procedures, within the limits necessary for such procedures and on condition that mention is made of the source, and of the name of the author if it appears in the source; among others.

Law No. 30 of 2018, issuing the Personal Data Protection Law, provides a comprehensive framework for data protection in Bahrain.

It is reported that piracy of audio, video and software by end users remains a problem despite the government implementing a copyright enforcement campaign that included inspections, shutdowns and a focus on raising public awareness.

According to Art. 9.1 of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA)'s Board of Directors Resolution No. 8 of 2009, a licensee shall undertake to retain access-related information for one year from the date of each call that is successfully made between two or more parties, whether it results in conveying call content or not. Moreover, it is reported that, since 2009, the TRA has mandated that all telecommunications companies keep a record of customers’ phone calls, emails, and website visits for up to three years.

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

Art. 3 of Order No. 43 of 2022 states that controllers should conduct a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) in the following cases:
- Cases stipulated in Art. 22.1 of Law No. 30 of 2018, or a systematic and extensive evaluation of personal aspects relating to natural persons which is based on automated processing, including profiling, and on which decisions are based that produce legal effects concerning the natural person or similarly significantly affect the natural person;
- When processing on a large scale special categories of data or of personal data relating to instituting and pursuing criminal proceedings and related judgements referred to Art. 7 of Law No. 30; or
- When processing amounts to systematically monitoring a publicly accessible area on a large scale.

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