Business secrecy, a strategic tool

Innovative French and European companies are increasingly subject to information theft, industrial espionage and economic espionage, all of which are exacerbated by increasingly powerful and invasive information and communication technologies.

There were wide disparities in the protection of business secrecy within the various member states of the European Union.

These disparities led to legal uncertainty and fragmentation of the internal R&D market.

For this reason, it has been agreed that rules should be put in place at European Union level to approximate the laws of the Member States, so as to guarantee sufficient and consistent civil redress possibilities in the internal market in the event of the unlawful obtaining, use or disclosure of a business secret.