The Parliament has voted in the second reading on a draft law regarding the protection of trade secrets, harmonized with European Union legislation. The draft law consolidates both substantive and procedural legal norms, providing an alignment with international tools in the field of intellectual property. The document appropriately defines basic concepts such as trade secret, holder of the trade secret, perpetrator, goods that violate norms, and establishes the limits of the normative framework’s application.
Furthermore, the ways of acquiring, using, and disclosing trade secrets are regulated, along with the rights of trade secret holders. The proposal also suggests the establishment of additional measures to protect trade secrets, as well as intervention procedures to counteract illegal use.
According to the project, a prescription period of 6 years will be applied to actions aimed at protecting trade secrets. Violation of norms regarding the protection of trade secrets will incur either administrative or criminal liability.
“To strengthen the normative framework in the field of protecting trade secrets against their illegal acquisition, use, or disclosure, given that information constituting trade secrets represents valuable competitive tools, this project proposes the establishment of legal norms to provide rights holders with a complete legal framework, as well as the necessary tools and leverage they can use to obtain adequate protection for the economic information they hold,” as mentioned in the project’s informative note.
The draft law is set to come into force two months after its publication in the Official Gazette. Currently, the legal regime for the protection of trade secrets is regulated by the Civil Code. The legislative initiative belongs to the State Agency for Intellectual Property (AGEPI).