Trade Secret: Validation of the law of July 26 by the French Constitutional Council

The Law on trade secrecy, which transposes into French law a European directive on the protection of “savoir-faire” and commercial information, was validated on July 26, 2018 by the Constitutional Council.

The purpose of this text is the protect “savoir-faire and trade information not divulged, against unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure”.

Also, trade secret is defined legally in the following terms: “any information that is not generally known or easily accessible to people familiar with this type of information due to their working field, which is of commercial, actual or potential value, because of its secret character and which is the object of the legitimate holder of reasonable protective measures, given the circumstances to keep the secret”.

Three main concepts to remember:

• The information must be secret
• The information must have a commercial value
• The company must have taken the necessary and reasonable measure internally to protect this information.

This text adds up to the regulation on non-compliance with contractual rules.