In the Privacy Act 1988, the Australian Privacy Principle 8 creates a regime that allows cross-border disclosure of personal information in six different scenarios (Schedule 1). These conditions include but are not limited to situations where data protection frameworks are similar or equivalent to those in Australia, there is consent to the disclosure, or laws require the disclosure. The Australian Privacy Principles were inserted into the Privacy Act by the Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012, which came into force in March 2014.

The Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975, last amended in January 2021, establishes a framework for screening foreign investments, granting the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) the authority to prohibit proposed investments on several grounds, including:
(i) significant investment activities are considered contrary to the national interest. The Foreign Investment Policy, revised in 2023, outlines the national interest criteria. These include national security, competition, government policies, economic and community impact and the investor's character;
(ii) preventing actions classified as notifiable for national security that pose a threat to national security. This includes investments in 'national security businesses' as defined in Article 9 of the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act. Specifically, it encompasses critical telecommunications assets, critical broadcasting assets, critical domain name systems, and critical data storage or processing assets;
(iii) the Treasurer's authority to "call in" and review an investment that would not normally require notification if it poses national security concerns; and
(iv) the Treasurer's ability to re-evaluate previously approved investments if new national security risks arise post-approval.

Section 80 of the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 requires foreign individuals to notify the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) before taking notifiable actions involving the acquisition of interests in Australian securities, assets, or land with a connection to Australia. To be considered significant under Sec. 82, an action must result in a change in control by a foreign person or be initiated by one, which is often dependent on meeting a specified threshold.
In addition, Art. 130 lists a number of conditions that can lead to excluding significant investments contrary to the national interest. This includes the exercise of a 'revocation' power to prohibit an investment on national security grounds and reassessing previously approved investments if national security risks arise post-approval. The latter pertains to participation in a 'business of national security' as specified in Art. 67 of the law. As Art. 9 of the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act outlines, this encompasses FDI in critical telecommunications assets, critical broadcasting assets, critical domain name systems, and critical data storage or processing assets. It has been reported that in 2012, under this regime, Australia cited cybersecurity concerns to prevent China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd from bidding for contracts for the $38 billion National Broadband Network.

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

Australia has a clear regime of copyright exceptions under the Copyright Act that follows the fair dealing model, which enables the lawful use of copyrighted work by others without obtaining permission. The list of exceptions includes research or study, criticism or review, parody or satire, reporting news, enabling a person with a disability to access the material, and professional advice by a lawyer, patent attorney or trademark attorney (Division 3).

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

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

Australia lacks a comprehensive framework in place that provides effective protection of trade secrets, but there are limited measures addressing some issues related to them. The Corporations Act 2001 provides that a person who obtains information because they are, or have been, a director or other officer or employee of a corporation must not improperly use the information. Similarly, the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 states that a bargain between two parties never requires disclosure of a trade secret. In addition, a common method to claim for breach of contractual and statutory obligations of confidence related to unlawful disclosure of trade secrets is the use of an equitable action for breach of confidence.

Australia is a signatory of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Information Technology Agreement (ITA) of 1996 and its 2015 expansion (ITA II).

Under the powers granted by the Customs Act 1901, a Commissioner leads the Anti-Dumping Commission, which manages antidumping and countervailing duties. In November 2019, the Commission extended the anti-dumping duties imposed in 2014 on power transformers (HS 8504.22 and 8504.23) against Indonesia and Taiwan for five additional years. The duty rate imposed on imports originating in Indonesia is 28.3%, while for imports originating in Taiwan, it ranges from 2.9% to 8.6%, depending on the company.

Under the powers granted by the Customs Act 1901, a Commissioner leads the Anti-Dumping Commission, which manages antidumping and countervailing duties. In May 2019, the Commission imposed antidumping duties on PCV flat electric cables (HS 8544.49.20) imported from China. The duty rate ranges from 2.8% to 18.9%, depending on the company.

Starting with the Australian Government Procurement Statement in July 2009, the Federal labour Government enacted a series of measures designed to enhance Australian industry participation in Australian Government procurement. The Statement strengthened the Australian Industry Participation framework by requiring participants in large Commonwealth tenders (generally AUD 20 million (approx. 17.8 million USD) or more) and infrastructure projects to prepare and implement Australian Industry Participation (AIP) Plans. Additional support was provided in the May 2011 Budget to fund greater advocacy for local suppliers under the Buy Australian at Home and Abroad package. The labour Government's Plan for Australian Jobs, in force since December 2013, further extended the requirements for AIP Plans to all major projects with a capital expenditure of AUD 500 million (approx. 344 million USD) or more.
It was reported in 2014 that this scheme "[does not] require the use of Australian suppliers, yet their incremental application reveal[ed] a tendency towards the increased use of subtle restrictions on overseas firms participating in government procurement tenders.
More specifically:
- For Commonwealth Government Procurement of AUD 20 million or more, although bidders need to prepare and implement an AIP plan, AIP plans do not "mandate the use of Australian industry, but rather aim to provide Australian industry with the opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities so they can be considered in purchasing decisions."
- For participation in major projects, the Australian Jobs Act 2013 obligates procurement entities "not [to] request bids to supply key goods or services for the project unless the procurement entity has a broad understanding of the capability and capacity of Australian entities generally to supply those goods or services" (Section 35). This does not constitute a requirement to incorporate local suppliers, but it creates a preference for local suppliers for key goods or services for a project.

The Commonwealth Procurement Rules (CPRs) provide that the Australian Government is committed to non-corporate Commonwealth entities sourcing at least 10% of procurement by value from SMEs and has a target of non-corporate Commonwealth entities procuring 35% of contracts by volume, with a value of up to AUD 20 million (approx. 17.8 million USD), from SMEs (CPRs 5.6, 5.7).
The government response to the ICT Procurement Taskforce's (within the Digital Transformation Agency) final report released in 2013 states that all agencies will be required to report on compliance with (certain) principles as part of their annual report performance statements, which include a metric on the percentage of annual ICT spending on significant projects going to Australian businesses, including a breakdown of the amount going to Australian SMEs.

The Commonwealth Indigenous Procurement Policy (IPP), issued in 2015, requires setting aside certain portions of domestic contracts for Indigenous enterprises (IPP 1.2). The IPP, updated in 2020, sets out a target for purchasing from indigenous enterprises for public procurements and a mandatory set-aside to direct Commonwealth contracts to indigenous enterprises (IPP 1.3). The target during the 2021-22 term was set for 1.5%. The IPP applies to non-corporate Commonwealth entities; it is not mandatory for corporate Commonwealth entities (IPP 1.6).

Australia is a party to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) and its commitments also cover the services sectors considered most important for digital trade, namely telecommunication services (CPC 752), telecommunication-related services (CPC 754), and computer and related services (CPC 84).