The Multisector Regulatory Agency for the Economy (ARME), the executive authority for the supervision and administration of services in the telecommunications sector, is independent from the government in the decision-making process. Art. 1 of ARME Statutes states that the authority has administrative, financial and patrimonial autonomy. The Statutes were approved by Decree-Law No. 50/2018.

Art. 19 of Law No. 133/V/2001 states that the transfer of personal data outside of Cabo Verde is only permissible if the foreign country ensures adequate protection. However, according to Art. 20, the transfer of personal data to a country which does not ensure an adequate level of protection may be permitted by "Comissão Nacional de Proteção de Dados Pessoais" (CNPD, National Commission of Data Protection) if the data subject has given consent to the transfer or under limited exemptions provided for by the law.

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

The Law No. 133-V-2001 provides a comprehensive regime of data protection in Cabo Verde, and it is enforced by the "Comissão Nacional de Proteção de Dados Pessoais" (CNPD, National Commission of Data Protection), which became operational in 2015.

Art. 29.1 of Law No. 133/V/2001, as amended in 2021, provides for an assessment of the impact of the planned processing operations on the protection of personal data whenever a particular type of processing, in particular one using new technologies, is likely to involve a high risk to the rights and freedoms of natural persons, taking into account its nature, scope, context and purpose. Moreover, Art. 30.1 of the law requires the controller and the processor to appoint a data protection officer (DPO) and Art. 30.2 allows a group of companies to appoint a single DPO.

A basic legal framework on intermediary liability for copyright infringements is absent in Cabo Verde law and jurisprudence.

A basic legal framework on intermediary liability beyond copyright infringement is absent in Cabo Verde's law and jurisprudence.

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

Art. 99.4 of the Public Procurement Code provides that factors may be foreseen that grant greater weight to bids submitting goods produced, extracted or farmed in Cabo Verde or relating to services provided or supplies made by entities of Cabo-Verdean nationality or with registered offices in Cabo-Verdean territory. Moreover, Art. 13 states that, in the contract formation procedure, all factors contributing to the promotion of national economic development, production development, procurement, industry and services of Cabo Verde, as well as compliance with national social policies, shall be considered.

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

There are no foreign ownership limitations in sectors relevant to digital trade, as confirmed by Decree-Law No. 34/2013.

It is reported that an approval process serves as a screening mechanism for inbound foreign investment. The process begins with the submission of a formal expression of interest to the investment promotion agency Cabo Verde TradeInvest in accordance with the Investment Law. Relevant government entities (depending on the sector and the nature of the investment) then conduct an integrated review of the investment project and provide an opinion. If the opinion is favourable, Cabo Verde TradeInvest, in coordination with relevant agencies, approves the project and issues an investor certificate no later than 45 days from the submission of interest.

Art. 226 of the Legislative Decree approving the Intellectual Property Code provides that the applicant must appoint a representative in Cabo Verde in the case of patent applications filed by interested parties (natural or legal persons) who are not domiciled or established in Cabo Verde. However, the interested party or the holder of the right, whether natural or legal, domiciled or resident in Cabo Verde, is free to present his applications for industrial property titles in person or to have them presented by a recognised lawyer (Art. 225(1)).

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