27/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - Council of EU formally adopts trade secrets directive. After several weeks of procrastination caused by the French translation of the term "wrongdoing" in an article on the derogations to the scope of the directive (see EUROPE 11552), the Competitiveness Council finally adopted the "trade secrets" directive on Friday 27 May. The term finally decided is "reprehensible act" (see EUROPE 11558), which is deemed more legally secure than the version adopted by the European Parliament on 14 April last (see EUROPE 11532), which proposed "inappropriate behaviour". The Greens/EFA Group at the European Parliament constantly opposed the draft directive, which it said was too pro-business and had already moved forward by submitting a draft legislative initiative report on a directive for the protection of whistle-blowers. Due to a disagreement on the legal basis, the official launch of this report was postponed until the middle of June (see EUROPE 11557). (PH)