Brussels, 25/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - The French translation of the term “wrongdoing” in the English language version of the trade secrets directive - currently held up in the Council's lawyer-linguist department because of linguistic discrepancies - will ultimately be “acte reprehensible”, according to a source close to the matter on Wednesday 25 May.
This decision results from an agreement between lawyer-linguist departments in the Parliament and the Council. Recital 20 of the directive: “Therefore the protection of trade secrets should not extend to cases in which disclosure of a trade secret serves the public interest in so far as relevant misconduct or wrongdoing is revealed” will be rendered “La protection des secrets d'affaires ne devrait, dès lors, pas s'étendre aux cas où la divulgation d'un secret d'affaires sert l'intérêt public dans la mesure où elle permet de révéler une faute, un acte répréhensible ou une activité illégale directement pertinents”. Similarly, when Article 5b says member states shall ensure that “there shall be no entitlement” to the application of the directive when it is determined that the whistle-blower acted “for the purpose of revealing an applicant's misconduct, wrongdoing or illegal activity, provided that the alleged acquisition, use or disclosure of the trade secret was necessary for such revelation and that the respondent acted in the public interest”, the French translation is to be “pour révéler une faute, un acte répréhensible ou une activité illégale, à condition que le défendeur ait agi dans le but de protéger l'intérêt public general”.
The proposed solution would seem to be far from pleasing the Greens/EFA Group in the Parliament. Julia Reda (Germany) tweeted indignantly that it was “unacceptable” that the political groups' shadow rapporteurs had still not been informed. At the meeting of legal affairs (JURI) committee coordinators on Tuesday (see EUROPE 11557) it was decided that the Parliament's lawyer-linguist department would keep those MEPs directly involved fully informed, we have been told. Reda is annoyed at the lack of information about this debate, regretting, on the one hand, that the Council is only talking with French-speaking MEPs and, on the other, that Constance Le Grip (EPP, France), who was the Parliament rapporteur, has not spoken informally the other political groups.
“This is a red herring somewhat blown out of proportion by the Greens and the Social Democrats. It's a language issue involving the French translation, an issue that should be resolved in a spirit of compromise between the Parliament and the Council”, retorted Jean-Marie Cavada (ALDE, France), who is also involved in the negotiations on behalf of his group. ALDE sees the problem as a purely technical, non-political one. The EPP Group takes a similar view. Things are seen differently in the S&D Group. Sergio Gaetano Cofferati (Italy) who speaks French but not English apparently justified his group's vote on the French, but not English, version in which “wrongdoing” was translated by the term “comportement inapproprié”.
A further question seems to remain: that of the last-minute change of the French translation of the term “wrongdoing”. The translation before the plenary session vote on 14 April (see EUROPE 11532) was “comportement inapproprié”, then it became “faute professionnelle” before being changed again, back to the original version, following an intervention by the rapporteurs on 22 April, we have been told. “There is no problem with changes being made between the version adopted by the committee and the one put to the plenary session vote. But certainly not on the very day of the plenary vote!” commented a Parliamentary source.
Adoption of the directive without debate (point A) will take place at the Competitiveness Council on Thursday 26 May, a little less than two weeks after the date initially planned (see EUROPE 11552). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)