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The Telecommunications Law (Law No. 31 of 1996) authorizes the majority of foreign capital participation in companies providing public telecommunication services, with the exception of foreign companies which another state controls or in which it has a majority holding.

While there is no formal investment screening for foreign direct investment, the Government of Panama does monitor large foreign investments. However, to date, there are no reports of discriminatory screening practices in the sectors covered.

Panama is not a member of the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA). In July 2013, Panama withdrew its application for accession to the GPA.

There are no preferences for domestic suppliers in Panama's procurement procedures, but there is provision for promoting competitive participation by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). This is set out in Executive Decree No. 366, which stipulates that, when bids are equal, if one of the bidders is an MSME, it should be awarded the contract.

Political interests are reported to have often influenced procurement decisions. Panamanian business leaders have expressed concerns regarding what they believe is excessive use of sole-source contracting. U.S. firms have expressed concerns about how the government of Panama establishes and evaluates the criteria used to select a procurement winner.

Pakistan has no de minimis rule, which means that there is no minimum value below which a good is exempted from duties and taxes collected by customs.

According to complaints from some business reports in Pakistan, there are only a few banks which offer debit cards that can be used for online payments or have the facility of transferring money from online accounts to other bank accounts.

Furthermore, the vast amount of different payment gateways by different banks and/or telecom companies has created a fragmented market which means that online businesses have to manage different banks and strike deals with several payment suppliers in order to reap larger market share.

Officially, Pakistan requires entities using encryption and cryptography services to obtain accreditation from the Electronic Certification Accreditation Council, which falls under the Ministry of Information Technology. In practice, this requirement is not consistently enforced. For example, WhatsApp is widely used in Pakistan, despite the company’s April 2016 announcement that it would employ end-to-end encryption. However, Research in Motion (RIM), the makers of BlackBerry mobile devices, faced scrutiny from the government regarding its use of encryption.

The national telecom carriers were ordered to cease offering services that route email through BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) starting from December 2015. One of the services of BES is email encryption, which prevents tracking of the origin and messages sent through it. Security concerns and lack of Pakistan's capabilities for decryption have been cited as the reason behind the decision.

Under the Telecom Act 1996 (section 29), the type approval by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is required for any telecommunication terminal equipment that can be directly or indirectly connected with PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) and radio equipment. However, the PTA generally accepts foreign standard test reports as the basis for approval. The applicant for the approval may be a foreign manufacturer.

It is reported that such type approval for a local manufacturer is twice cheaper (5000 PKR, approx. 48USD) than for a foreign one (100 USD).

Tablet PC with Wi-Fi only functionality has been exempted by the type approval of the PTA as of August 2015 Authority Decision.

Chapter 2 of the Telecom Act requires that telecom equipment should conform to the standards adopted by the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA). Section 29 stipulates that no terminal equipment can be directly or indirectly connected with public switched network unless it has been type approved by PTA. The equipment required for testing terminal equipment and network conditions shall also be presented to the Authority for approval.

On 24 February 2017, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) imposed a 100% cash margin requirement on the import of certain consumer items, including mobile phones. This measure obliges importers to deposit the total amount of the transaction value in a commercial bank before the opening of an import letter of credit.

Pakistan prohibits the importation, sale, distribution and transmission of films the government deems inconsistent with local religious and cultural standards.

Products from Israel are not allowed to be imported into Pakistan as well as any item made in third party countries which contain components made in Israel.
Moeover, Pakistan bans 1,209 items from India.