Brussels, 17/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - The lawyer-linguists of the Council of the EU, who are responsible for the translation and technical harmonisation of European legal texts, are struggling to define and translate the term “wrongdoing” of article 5 of the directive on trade secrets, particularly into French, which has caused the adoption of the text to be delayed until 25 May at the earliest.
The adoption of the text, initially scheduled for 17 May, was postponed at the last minute on Friday 13 May (see EUROPE 11551) due to a translation discrepancy, although no more details have emerged. According to several sources consulted on Tuesday, the problem relates in particular to article 5 of the directive. This article lists the derogations to the application of the directive. It is a critical article and, depending on the term used, its scope of application could be changed enormously, according to European Parliament source.
Even before the adoption of the text at the April plenary session (see EUROPE 11532), the translation had been a headache for the French lawyer-linguists of the Parliament, who were undecided between “malversation” (misappropriation or embezzlement), “faute” (offence), which has too broad a meaning, and “faute professionnelle” (professional misconduct), which has an overly restrictive meaning. The EP's lawyer-linguists ultimately decided in favour of the noun phrase “comportement inapproprié” (inappropriate behaviour), but this solution has not won everybody over.
According to one diplomatic source and two sources from the Parliament, the adoption is not expected to take place before 25 May, at the 'Economic and Financial Affairs' Council, but it is not expected to be any later than the end of the month.
Doubts over the Latvian translation. Latvia also plans to flag up the Latvian translation of the term “business” (“darijumdarbiba” in Latvia), which could be a source of legal uncertainty, as “business” is translated differently in the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (“uznemejdarbiba”). According to Latvia, “the second of these two terms corresponds more accurately to the economic activity referred to in the directive, which gives rise to the constitution of business secrets”. The country therefore intends to start an amendment procedure.
Directive on whistleblowers. At the beginning of May, the Greens/EFA group launched a proposed directive to protect whistleblowers and to counterbalance the trade secrets directive, as they feel that it comes down too much in favour of businesses (see EUROPE 11546). On Monday 23 May, the coordinators of the parliamentary committee on legal affairs (JURI) are to decide whether or not to draft an own-initiative report. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)