Korea 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).

Under the Telecommunications Business Act, telecommunications businesses are divided into two categories: namely, facilities-based telecommunications services (FTS) and value-added telecommunications services (VATS). FTS refers to businesses that install telecommunications line equipment and facilities and provide telecom services. VATS are online services using the FTS network, such as cloud computing services, email, e-commerce platforms, and internet search engines. Since 2009, the Act has prohibited foreigners from owning more than 49% of the stock of a telecom enterprise when it comes to FTS (Art. 8).

Under Art. 14 of the Broadcasting Act, no foreign ownership is allowed in terrestrial broadcasting businesses or community radio broadcasting entities. Only 20% of foreign ownership is allowed to a program provider engaging in general programming or a CATV relay broadcasting business entity. Up to 49% of foreign ownership is allowed to a CATV broadcasting entity, satellite broadcasting business entity, or a single transmission network business entity. This restriction has been in place since 2009.
Additionally under Art. 9 of the Internet Multimedia Broadcasting Services Act, only up to 49% of foreign ownership is allowed for Internet multimedia broadcasting service providers or Internet multimedia broadcast content business operators. Only up to 20% of foreign ownership is allowed for internet multimedia broadcast content business operators engaged in general programming or specialised programming of news reports. This restriction has been in place since 2009.

Since 1998, Art. 4 of the Foreign Investment Promotion Act has provided that the national government has a right to decline a foreign investment if there is clear evidence that this investment poses a threat to the national security or public interest. This is not sector-specific but applies horizontally. A decision of the national government about restricting a foreign investment is followed by a notification of the Minister of Knowledge Economy including the categories of business and content of restriction. Korea uses a negative list system, which means that the country is open to foreign investments unless it is explicitly restricted.

Art. 13 of Act No. 18813 mandates that companies with national core and strategic technologies, as prescribed in the National Core Technology list, must obtain approval from the Minister of Trade, Industry, and Energy before being acquired by or merging with a foreign company, or entering into a joint venture with one. These are referred to as "National High-Tech Strategic Technology" and include, among others, semiconductor companies.

The list of goods prohibited or restricted for import and export in the Eurasian Economic Union, including Kazakhstan, was determined by the decision of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission in 2012. The Decision has been amended a few times since then. According to Section 1 of the so-called "Single List" contained in the Decision, the following digital goods are among the goods that are subject to export restrictions: (i) Special hardware meant for secret information acquisition; (ii) Encryption devices.

According to Art. 16 of the Law on Communication, technical means of communication used in the telecommunications network of the Republic of Kazakhstan are subject to a procedure of mandatory conformity acknowledgement by the authorities. The equipment has to be submitted to certification bodies recognised (or approved) by the regulator for certification.

In accordance with subparagraph 4-1 of Art. 7 of Law No. 544, the Minister of National Economy of Kazakhstan ordered the approval of the Rules of Domestic Trade (Order No. 264). Arts. 105-1 and 106-1 of the Rules mandate e-commerce sellers to indicate their BIN (business identification number), address of business operations on the territory of Kazakhstan and mobile telephone number registered in Kazakhstan in order to operate in the country. Additional information on this requirement is found in Annex 3-10 of Order No. 4.

According to Art. 7 of Law No. 167-VІ SAM on Monetary Regulation and Foreign Exchange Control (which repealed Law No. 57 of 2005 on Monetary Regulation in July 2018), the use of a local bank is mandatory for settlements in foreign currency between residents of the KR and non-residents. Exceptions are settlements made from a foreign bank account of a non-resident, carried out on account of the performance of obligations of a resident (e.g. when a foreign parent company pays its local branch in the KR) and settlements with non-residents made from the resident's account in a foreign bank. Also, settlements between residents of the KR (including local branches of foreign non-financial legal entities considered residents) must be made in local currency.

According to Art. 136 of Law No. 115-VI ЗРК of the Republic of Kazakhstan, imports placed under the customs procedure for domestic consumption with a total customs value not exceeding the threshold of EUR 200 (approx. 219 USD) are exempt from import duties and taxes.

According to Art. 56 of the Law on Informatization requires that internet resources with ".kz" and ".қaz" domains must be hosted on hardware and software complexes located in Kazakhstan. In other words, an internet resource (website, web application, web service) using a ".kz" or ".қaz" domain must be hosted on a server in a data centre located in Kazakhstan. The server must also be connected to a Kazakh internet provider and use a (dedicated or shared) Kazakhstan IP address. It is reported that the owners of Internet resources were originally required to start using Kazakhstan's data centres by November 2020; however, since the related transition required additional costs and time, the deadline for meeting this requirement was extended to February 2021.

The Law on Protection of Consumer Rights provides a comprehensive framework for consumer protection that also applies to online transactions. Art. 33 of the Law on Protection of Consumer Rights includes provisions for the protection of e-consumers. Additionally, e-consumers enjoy all other privileges of the normal consumers.

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