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Ministers to agree protection for trade secrets

Ministers are expected to back a proposal that would harmonise rules across Europe on protecting sensitive trade secrets.

A proposal to protect industrial know-how and trade secrets from theft by employees and corporate rivals will take a step forward on Monday (26 May), when competitiveness ministers from the European Union’s member states are expected to agree a joint position on the issue.

They are expected to broadly back a proposal by the European Commission – although Greece, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council of Ministers, has suggested allowing greater confidentiality for court cases involving disputes over trade secrets. At present, many companies, from perfume-makers to hi-tech industrial firms, shy away from defending their trade secrets in court for fear that the proceedings will reveal confidential industrial know-how.

In November, the Commission published a proposal to harmonise the patchwork of laws across member states, to introduce a uniform definition of what constitutes a trade secret, and require national courts to make injunctions and damages available to victims. The proposal would allow a company to seek an injunction banning imports that are produced using an illegally-obtained trade secret.

The joint position will make it explicit that member states will, if they choose, be able to introduce stricter rules to protect trade secrets and that the proposal will not affect member states’ criminal law systems. The Hungarian government sought to remove an exception that would have protected from prosecution journalists who disclose trade secrets in the interests of free speech, but it failed to garner any support for the change. Estonia and Sweden oppose other aspects of the proposal.

The outgoing European Parliament did not discuss the proposal, so it will fall to the new intake of MEPs to debate it and adopt a position.

The ministers will also hear from the Greek presidency on the progress made in setting up the EU’s common patent. So far, only Austria, France and Malta have transposed the unitary patent agreement into national law. The patent court is not expected to be up and running until early 2016, two years later than initially hoped. Michel Barnier, the European commissioner for the internal market and services, last week called on member states to complete the process as quickly as possible.

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Ministers will also hear from Italy about its priorities for the competitiveness council when it takes over the rotating presidency of the Council of Ministers on 1 July.