EU Legal Affairs Committee passes trade secrets reform

Legislation that will increase harmonisation of trade secrets laws across the EU took a leap forward today after the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee approved the latest draft report. 

The legislation will now head to a vote at the full parliament in April. The European Council also needs to approve the draft legislation. 

The report was approved by 20 votes to 2. Three members abstained from the vote. 

Constance Le Grip, a member of the European People’s Party and tasked with pushing through the reforms, welcomed the result.
“The text voted in the Legal Affairs Committee today will make it possible to protect companies’ professional knowhow and confidential commercial information, while safeguarding the fundamental freedoms of expression,” she said. 

The proposed legislation outlines an EU-wide definition of what constitutes a trade secret. 

Under the proposals, a trade secret is defined by the fact it has commercial value to a company because it is secret. 

Provisions on ensuring trade secrets are kept confidential during legal proceedings are also covered by the proposed legislation. 

However, some parties have called on European politicians to reject the measures citing concerns about an infringement of whistle-blowers’ and journalists’ rights to publicise a company’s wrongdoing. 

Non-profit organisations including the Corporate Europe Observatory and the European Public Health Alliance have said “trade secrets must not be protected at such a dramatic price”. 

The groups complained that the legislation will not prevent “anti-competitive behaviour”. 

Julia Reda, a member of the left-wing Greens/European Free Alliance, criticised the legislation. 

“The unnecessarily broad definition of what constitutes a 'trade secret' will enable corporations to claim information as a trade secret with a view to circumventing legislation, even when this should by rights be in the public domain,” she said.