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

The Act on Contracts to Which the State is a Party excludes, under Art. 4, international bidding for certain public procurement tenders in cases where:
- the procurement is for goods or services required for producing other goods or services intended for sale or resale;
- the products are manufactured by SMEs and purchased in accordance with the Act on Facilitation of Purchase of Small and Medium Enterprise-Manufactured Products and Support for Development of their Markets (Act on SMEs);
- A Presidential Decree prohibits such bidding in line with the Government Procurement Agreement.
This is also confirmed in Art. 5 of the Act on Contracts to Which a Local Government is a Party.

Under Art. 69 of the Electronic Government Act, enacted in 2001, and Cryptographic Module Testing and Validation Guidelines (Guidelines), promulgated in 2004, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) operates the Korea Cryptographic Module Validation Program (KCMVP). KCMVP validates that software, network (such as VPN and SW USB series), and hardware equipment that deals with non-confidential yet important information comply with the Cryptographic Module Validation Standards, which were amended in 2015. Appropriate encryption standards are developed in Korea, such as ARIA, SEED, LEA, and Hight. It is reported that the lack of recognition of other international encryption standards constitutes a barrier for foreign suppliers.
Under the Guidelines, suppliers of software, networks (such as VPN and SW USB series), and hardware equipment that deals with non-confidential yet important information must also submit the source code of their products to pass the Cryptographic Module Validation Process. It is reported that source code could potentially be required as part of common criteria certification administered by the IT Security Certification Center, a requirement for public procurement of cloud computing services.

According to Art. 48 of the Software Promotion Act, participation in government-led software procurement is limited to SMEs. The Act allows the participation of "large" companies in exceptional circumstances.

As of January 2021, pursuant to Art. 4 of the National Intelligence Service Korea Act (introduced by the amendment - Act No. 11104 - of 2011) and Art. 56 of the Electronic Government Act (introduced by the amendment - Act No. 10012 - of 2010), the National Intelligence Service (NIS) applies the Security Verification Scheme to network equipment and cyber-security software imported for government procurement. Generally, suppliers may satisfy this scheme in two ways: first, cybersecurity software, such as firewalls and intrusion prevention systems, is certified by a Common Criteria Recognition Arrangement (CCRA) accredited lab outside Korea. However, the Common Criteria (CC) certification may not be sufficient for two reasons. First, NIS may substitute the CC certification with other certification mechanisms that were internally developed (e.g., GS Certification). Second, NIS may reject a CC certification when it deems that the certification does not cover particular functions of the product that the government entity needs.
Second, network equipment must undergo a security function test. The equipment that has already passed this test may come in. NIS has recently required some of the cyber-security software that had been subject to the CCRA scheme to pass a security test report conducted by national test agencies. This software includes a software-based security USB (since January 2020), virtualisation product (January 2020), host data leakage prevention product (January 2021), network data leakage prevention product (January 2021), and inter-network data transmission product (January 2022).
There have been reported concerns, starting in 2014, over the additional verification requirement for network equipment, including equipment products that are "not normally considered as 'security' products, such as routers, switches, and IP-PBXs." It is also reported that the NIS has applied the verification scheme "in a non-transparent fashion."

In 2016, the Korea Internet Security Agency (KISA) developed a cloud security certificate (KCSC) system governing public-sector cloud service procurement. This is based on the 2016 Notice on Protection of Information for Cloud Computing Services promulgated pursuant to Art. 23-2 of the Act on the Development of Cloud Computing and Protection of Its Users, which was inserted into the statute in 2015. It is reported that this constitutes a key barrier for cloud service providers because they are unable to meet some requirements for the certification without creating a separate, Korean-unique product.

Korea is a party to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA). Although its commitments include a service sector regarded as central to digital trade, namely computer and related services (CPC 84), they only partially include telecommunication services (CPC 752) and do not include telecommunication‑related services (CPC 754).

Art. 8.1 of the Telecommunications Business Act stipulates that foreign governments or foreign nationals may collectively hold no more than 49% of the total issued shares of a facilities‑based telecommunications business operator that satisfies the criteria prescribed by Presidential Decree regarding the type, installation area and other characteristics of telecommunications line equipment. Under Art. 2.11, a “facilities‑based telecommunications service” is a service that transmits or receives voice, data, images and similar content without altering their form or substance and leases telecommunications line equipment to enable such transmission or reception, including services such as telephony and Internet connectivity.

Laos does not implement any de minimis threshold, which is the minimum value of goods below which customs do not charge duties.

It is reported that online taxi operators are required to maintain a physical office within Laos for correspondence purposes. This requirement is said to be provided for in "Notice No. 23902 on the Management of Taxi Operation Services Conducted via Online Platforms or Applications", reportedly issued by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport on 6 October 2025. However, the Notice could not be located in publicly available online sources.

Laos lacks a comprehensive framework for consumer protection that applies to online transactions.

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

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