Somalia has no rules applicable to the protection of trade secrets.

It is reported that there is no obligation for passive infrastructure sharing in Somalia to deliver telecom services to end users. However, it is practised in both the mobile and fixed sectors based on commercial agreements. In addition, some telecom companies and internet providers, such as Somtel, Telesom, and Somcable, agreed with the government to share the landing and operation of submarine cables to enter the country.

Somalia does not mandate accounting separation for operators with significant market power (SMP) in the telecom market. However, it is reported that operators are subject to an obligation of functional separation.

It is reported that there is a legal limit on the number of licenses, a minimum capital requirement to obtain a license and other licensing criteria. However, these restrictions are not found in the law. The licensing regime is regulated by the National Telecommunications Law of 2017 and the Unified Licensing Framework.

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

Somalia has established a telecommunications regulatory body known as the National Communications Authority (NCA). The NCA was created under the National Telecommunication Law, which stipulates in Art. 7 that it functions as an autonomous agency in the performance of its duties, free from interference by other governmental institutions. It possesses legal personality, granting it the capacity to initiate or defend legal proceedings in its own name, consistent with the procedures applicable to government agencies. Nevertheless, similar to other governmental bodies, the NCA falls administratively under the jurisdiction of the minister responsible for national communications. Despite this administrative oversight, the law affirms that the NCA retains autonomy in executing the responsibilities assigned to it under the Law.

Art. 30 of the Data Protection Act provides that a data controller may not transfer personal data to a country outside the country unless one of the following conditions is met:
- The personal data will be received solely in countries that provide an adequate level of protection;
- The recipient is an international organisation whose policies and administrative and technical measures afford an adequate level of protection;
- The recipient is subject to a law, binding corporate rules, contractual clauses, code of conduct, certification mechanism or other measures that afford an adequate level of protection; or
- The transfer meets one of the several criteria in Art. 31, which include consent of the data subject and the necessity of the processing for the entering into or performance of a contract with the data subject.

Somalia has not joined any agreement committing to open transfer of cross-border data flows.

The Data Protection Act provides a comprehensive regime of data protection in Somalia. The Act applies to the processing of personal data and provides principles governing such processing, including legal bases. In line with international norms, the Act also provides data subject rights, including the right to access, correct, delete, and object. Moreover, the Act establishes data controller obligations such as breach notification, the conducting of Data Protection Impact Assessments, vendor management, and restrictions on cross-border transfers.

It is reported that Somalia has neither a patent nor an industrial design registration system, and that the only available means of seeking protection is the publication of a “cautionary notice” in a local newspaper. The Constitution contains no specific provisions on the protection or enforcement of intellectual property, and there is, moreover, no formal legislation governing intellectual property rights in the country.

It is reported that Somalia currently lacks an institutional framework for the enforcement of intellectual property rights, including patents. Furthermore, although Somalia is a member of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO), it has not yet acceded to the relevant ARIPO protocols, meaning that patents granted by ARIPO have no legal effect in Somalia.

Somalia is not a party to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

Somalia is not a signatory of the 1996 World Trade Organization (WTO) Information Technology Agreement (ITA) nor the 2015 expansion (ITA II). Somalia is not a member of the WTO but holds observer status.