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

With the exception of goods originating in Malawi, import permits – issued by the Department of International Trade in the Ministry of Investment, Trade, and Industry – are required for goods entering Botswana directly from outside the Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU). Any public or private body whose product satisfies all the requirements of a Botswana product standard can apply to the Botswana Bureau of Standards (BOBS) for the product to be certified. Samples of the product are then tested to verify its conformance to the requirements of the product standard, and if the results are acceptable, the product can then obtain the BOBS certification mark.
Regulations 3 and 6 of the Standards (Import Inspection) Regulations of 2008 provide that a compliance certificate should be obtained for all commodities or goods to be imported into Botswana. The imported commodities should either comply with the Bureau standards or international or foreign standards recognised by the Bureau for the compliance certificate to be issued.

According to Art. 5 of the Type Approval Guidelines, type approval applies to anyone who imports, manufactures, uses, or supplies telecommunication or broadcasting equipment for use or sale in Botswana. The person who wants to use or sell this product must register the equipment with Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA), prior to importing, unless the equipment concerned has already been registered in BROCA’s Type Approval Database. According to Art. 6, for registration, the application must be accompanied by a declaration of conformity (DoC) and a full set of test reports confirming compliance with declared conformity. In addition, according to Section 6.5, it is not necessary to submit any other documentation or a sample of the equipment unless requested to do so by BOCRA. As specified in Art. 10, test results must be obtained from a labouratory that has been accredited by a body that is a member of the International labouratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) Mutual Recognition Arrangement. Test results should be included with the application unless BOCRA specifically states in writing that test results are not required. The equipment must be tested for compliance with BROCA’s technical specifications (or equivalent) and should cover areas of safety, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), and technical standards. Reference to such compliance must be included in the declaration of conformity submitted with the application.

Section 10 of the Data Protection Act gives the Commissioner the power to access any personal data that is processed without a requirement for a court order to obtain the information. The Commissioner simply has to request for the information or document in writing. The Commissioner also has to stipulate the timeframes within which information should be provided. A person who does not comply with the Commissioner's request is liable to a sanction.

It is reported that a basic legal framework on intermediary liability for copyright infringement is absent in Botswana's law and jurisprudence. Despite Part VIII of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act protects information service providers from any civil or criminal liability with respect to third-party material stored or transmitted on their platforms if they did not contribute to the material, according to Art. 39 of the Act, nothing in the Act shall affect any liability of the service provider under the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act in respect of the infringement of copyright in any work or other subject matter in which copyright subsists.

Part VIII of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act protects information services providers from any civil or criminal liability with respect to third-party material stored or transmitted on their platforms if they did not contribute to the material. It is also expected that the information service providers should expeditiously remove or disable access to the infringing content upon receiving a take-down notice.

It is reported that Botswana imposes identity requirement for SIM registration. Anyone wanting to purchase a SIM card has to provide their national ID card, or a passport in case of foreigners, to activate a new prepaid SIM card. According to Art. 6 of the Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority Act, the Board of the Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority is responsible for regulating SIM card registration.

It is reported that there is an obligation for passive infrastructure sharing in Botswana to deliver telecom services to end users. Moreover, passive infrastructure sharing is practised in the mobile and fixed sectors based on commercial agreements.

The Botswana Telecommunications Corporation Limited (BTCL) is a telecommunications company formerly a government parastatal. Clause 6.2 of the Constitution of the BTCL states that no shares shall be issued to foreigners. Therefore, foreigners cannot own shares in this telecommunications company, which is also Botswana's only listed telecommunications company.

State-owned enterprises operating in the telecommunications sector in Botswana are Botswana Telecommunications Corporation Ltd (BTCL), a provider of telecommunications and Internet services (ISP), and Botswana Fibre Networks (BoFiNet), a wholesale provider of telecommunications infrastructure responsible for enhancing broadband penetration. The Government of Botswana reportedly owns 51% of the shares of BTCL and 100% of the shares of BoFiNet.

It is reported that Botswana does not mandate functional separation for operators with significant market power (SMP) in the telecom market. However, there has been an obligation to separate the accounts since 2012.

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

It is reported that the Botswana Communication Regulatory Authority (BOCRA), 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 Sections 189 and 190 of the Companies Act 2007, a company limited by shares must keep accounting records, including invoices relating to the sale and supply of goods, at its registered office or such other place in Botswana as the company's board shall determine.

Section 20 of the Data Protection Act (DPA) prohibits processing sensitive personal data except under certain circumstances. These include:
- The processing is specifically provided for under the DPA;
- The data subject has given consent in writing;
- The data subject has made the data public;
- The processing is necessary for national security, for the purposes of exercising or performing any right or obligation which is conferred or imposed by law on the data controller in connection with employment, or where the processing is authorised by any other written law for any reason of substantial interest to the public; or
- The processing is necessary to protect the vital interest of a data subject and another person in a case where consent cannot be given by or on behalf of the data subject, the data controller cannot be reasonably expected to obtain consent or the consent by or on behalf of the data subject has been unreasonably withheld.
It is not clear whether a data transfer is considered a form of processing.