Brussels, 21/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - According to rapporteur, Constance Le Grip (EPP, France), the European Parliament hearing on trade secrets on Tuesday 20 January confirms the fact that this subject “leaves no one indifferent”. She believes that there are a lot of expectations in “many sectors and layers of public opinion for developing a common European legal framework”.
Companies, employers and the academic world have expressed their points of view to the Parliamentary committee for legal affairs regarding the draft directive on protecting trade secrets. Dimitri Stoffels, a manager at a Nanocyl subsidiary, explained that he was eagerly awaiting the press release on trade secrets, because appropriations in this regard “could prove disastrous”. He said that “no partner had exchanged confidential information. We were more at ease when we were protected by patents”. Although trade secrets are protected by confidentiality, he regretted the absence of a legal framework for protection in the event of illegal misappropriation. Constance Le Grip was reassured by the ideas expressed during the hearing and made a commitment to attempting over the next few weeks “to develop something useful on the basis of a text that shows that the EU is able to work on constructive legislative texts and not on further bureaucratic red tape”. She said that she was convinced that without trust, a legal statute, clarity and guarantees, there could not be any sustainable economic development. (MD)