Protection of Trade Secrets: Initial Appraisal of the Commission's Impact Assessment

Briefing 08-07-2014

This note seeks to provide an initial analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the European Commission's Impact Assessment (IA) accompanying its proposal for a Directive on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) against their unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure (COM (2013) 813), which was adopted on 28 November 2013. It does not attempt to deal with the substance of the proposals and is drafted for informational and background purposes to assist the JURI committee and its Members in their work.