On trade secrets (LRU-374-son)

11.09.2014

Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan

Passed by the Legislature on June 18, 2014 Approved by the Senate on August 28, 2014

Article 1: Purpose of this Law

The purpose of this Law is to regulate relations in the field of protection and use of trade secrets.

Article 2: Legislation on trade secrets

The legislation on trade secrets shall consist of this Law and other legislative acts.

If an international treaty of the Republic of Uzbekistan establishes rules other than those provided for by the legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan on trade secrets, the rules of the international treaty shall apply.

Article 3: Basic concepts

The following basic concepts shall be applied in this Law:

trade secret — information of commercial value in scientific-technical, technological, production, financial-economic and other spheres due to its unknown to third parties, to which there is no free access on a legal basis and the owner of this information takes measures to protect its confidentiality;

trade secret confidentiality — the state of a trade secret, when its security against leakage, disclosure and unauthorized access is ensured;

owner of a trade secret — a legal or natural person who owns, uses and disposes of a trade secret and has established a trade secret regime with respect to it;

confidant — a legal or natural person who has obtained possession and use of a trade secret on the basis of a contract with its owner;

disclosure of a trade secret — an action or inaction as a result of which information constituting a trade secret in any possible form (oral, written, other form, including with the use of technical means) becomes known to third parties without the consent of the owner of such information or a confidential person or contrary to a labor agreement (contract) or civil law agreement;

trade secret regime — a system of legal, organizational, technical and other measures restricting access to trade secrets.

Article 4: Requirements for trade secrets

A trade secret must comply with the following requirements:

have actual or potential commercial value for its owner due to its unknown to third parties;

not be publicly known or publicly available in accordance with the law;

be ensured by measures to protect its confidentiality;

have no signs of state secrets and other secrets protected by law.

The content and scope of a trade secret shall be determined by its owner.

Article 5: Information that may not constitute a trade secret

Information may not constitute a trade secret:

on rights to property and transactions thereon subject to state registration;

contained in the constituent documents of a legal person, documents confirming the fact of making entries on legal persons, individual entrepreneurs and web without formation of a legal person in the relevant state registers;

contained in the documents giving the right to carry out entrepreneurial activities;

information on the composition of the state institution's property and on their use of the corresponding budget funds;

on environmental pollution, fire safety, sanitary-epidemiological and radiation situation, food safety and other factors that have a negative impact on ensuring safe operation of production facilities, safety of each citizen and the population as a whole;

the number and composition of employees, remuneration system and labor conditions, including labor protection, indicators of occupational injuries and occupational diseases, as well as the availability of vacant jobs;

on employers' arrears of wages and social payments;

on violations of the law and the facts of prosecution for committing these violations;

concerning the conditions for the privatisation of state property;

on the amount and structure of income of non-profit organizations, the amount and composition of their property, their expenses, the number and remuneration of employees (members) of these organizations, the use of gratuitous labor of citizens in the activities of a non-profit organization;

the list of persons authorized to act without a power of attorney on behalf of the legal person;

to be submitted as state statistical reporting.

Information, the mandatory disclosure of which or the inadmissibility of restricting access to which is established by another law, may not constitute a trade secret.

Article 6: Rights of the owner of a trade secret

The rights of the owner of a trade secret arise from the moment the owner establishes a trade secret regime with respect to the information.

The owner of a trade secret has the right to:

establish, change and cancel in writing the trade secret regime;

determine the procedure and conditions of access to trade secrets;

allow or prohibit access to trade secrets in the course of labor relations;

use trade secrets for your own needs;

to introduce trade secrets into civil turnover on the basis of contracts providing for the inclusion in them of conditions on the protection of their confidentiality;

require persons who have obtained a trade secret as a result of actions taken accidentally and/or by mistake to protect its confidentiality;

protect his rights in accordance with the procedure established by law in cases of disclosure, unlawful receipt or unlawful use of trade secrets by third parties, including claiming compensation for losses caused in connection with the violation of his rights.

The owner of a trade secret may have other rights in accordance with the law.

Article 7: Period of protection of trade secrets

A trade secret shall be protected by its owner and (or) confidential until the loss of confidentiality of the trade secret.

Article 8: Establishment of a trade secret regime

The trade secret regime is established by the owner of the trade secret. Establishment of the trade secret regime may be entrusted on a contractual basis to the confidant.

The owner of a trade secret independently determines the introduction and removal of the "trade secret" label, the conditions of acquisition, use and disclosure of the trade secret, the means of its protection, and the choice of means of transferring the trade secret.

The trade secret regime shall be deemed established after the owner of the trade secret or the confidant has taken the measures provided for in Article 10 of this Law.

The regime of trade secrecy may not be used for purposes that contradict the requirements of protecting the foundations of the constitutional system of the country, ensuring the defense and security of the state, morality, health of citizens, rights and legitimate interests of other persons.

The inclusion of confidentiality clauses in civil law contracts is a prerequisite for establishing a trade secret regime.

Article 9: Modification or abolition of the trade secret regime

The owner of the trade secret and the confidential shall have the right to change or cancel the trade secret regime without violating the obligations assumed in the contracts concluded by them. If the trade secret regime is changed or canceled, the owner of the trade secret shall notify the confidential in writing within the period provided for in the contract.

Article 10. Measures to protect trade secrets

Measures to protect trade secrets should include:

determining the list and scope of information constituting a trade secret;

Establishing procedures for handling trade secrets and control over compliance with such procedures;

accounting of persons who have access to trade secrets;

application on material carriers of trade secrets or inclusion in the details of documents containing them of the "trade secret" stamp indicating the owner of the trade secret.

The owner of the trade secret, the confidant shall have the right to apply other measures to protect the trade secret that do not contradict the law.

Organization of measures to protect trade secrets and control over their implementation shall be entrusted to the owner of the trade secret and (or) the confidant.

Article 11. Protection of trade secrets in the course of labor relations

In order to ensure the protection of trade secrets, the employer (owner of the trade secret, confidential) shall:

familiarize, against signature, the employee whose access to trade secrets is necessary for him/her to perform his/her job duties with the list of information constituting trade secrets;

familiarize the employee, against signature, with the trade secret regime established by the employer and measures of responsibility for its violation;

create the necessary conditions for the employee to comply with the trade secret regime established by the employer.

An employee's access to trade secrets is subject to his/her consent, unless it is provided for by his/her employment duties.

In order to ensure the protection of trade secrets, the employee shall:

comply with the trade secret regime established by the employer;

not to disclose trade secrets or use them for personal purposes without the employer's consent;

hand over to the employer upon termination of the labor agreement (contract) the material carriers of trade secrets in his possession or destroy or remove them from the said carriers under the control of the employer.

In order to ensure the protection of trade secrets, an employment agreement (contract) or civil law contract shall provide:

obligations of the employee and the employer, who is the owner of the trade secret or the confidant, to ensure protection of the trade secret;

the period during which, after termination of the employment agreement (contract) or civil law agreement, the former employee is obliged not to disclose trade secrets.

An employee shall have the right to appeal in court against the unlawful establishment of a trade secret regime to which he/she has gained access in connection with the performance of his/her duties provided for in an employment contract (contract) or civil law contract.

Article 12: Grounds for termination of access to trade secrets in the course of labor relations

The grounds for terminating access to trade secrets in the course of labor relations are:

termination of an employment agreement (contract) or civil law contract;

breach of commitments to non-disclosure of trade secrets.

Other circumstances may also be grounds for terminating access to trade secrets in the course of labor relations in accordance with the law or contract.

Termination of access to trade secrets in the course of labor relations does not release the employee from his/her obligations on non-disclosure of trade secrets.

Article 13. Protection of trade secrets in the interaction of business entities

In the course of realization by economic entities of trade-economic, scientific-technical, currency-financial and other relations, the contracting parties shall specifically stipulate the nature and list of information constituting a trade secret, as well as mutual obligations to ensure its protection.

Article 14. Protection of a trade secret when it is transferred by the owner of the trade secret to a confidant

The owner of the trade secret is obliged not to disclose the trade secret transferred by him to the confidential person in accordance with the contract.

The Confidant shall maintain the confidentiality of trade secrets received by it under the contract.

Article 15. Provision of trade secrets

Provision of a trade secret shall be carried out by the owner of the trade secret or by the confidant at the motivated request of a state body on a gratuitous basis, if, in accordance with the legislation, the powers of this state body include the request for such information.

A motivated request to provide a trade secret must be signed by an authorized official of the state body, contain an indication of the purpose and legal basis for requesting a trade secret, the term of its provision, unless otherwise provided by law.

In case of refusal by the owner of the trade secret or the confidential to provide the trade secret, the state body shall have the right to request it in court.

Article 16. Ensuring confidentiality of trade secrets when providing them

State bodies shall be obliged to create conditions ensuring confidentiality of trade secrets provided to them by their owner or confidant.

Employees of state bodies shall not have the right to disclose or transfer to other persons, including state bodies, trade secrets that became known to them in connection with the performance of their official duties, except in cases provided for by law, as well as to use them for mercenary or other personal purposes.

Article 17. Limits of familiarization with trade secrets in court

In the course of court proceedings, familiarization of the court and persons participating in the case with the trade secret is allowed in the part directly related to the merits of the dispute, in which the owner of the trade secret or the confidant acts as a plaintiff or defendant.

Unrestricted court access to trade secrets is permitted only in cases:

disputes between the owner of the trade secret or the confidant and state authorities;

upon the initiation of insolvency proceedings against the trade secret owner, or when the trade secret owner is liquidated or their activity is terminated;

disputes over inheritance rights when the object of inheritance is a trade secret;

disputes over the division of the spouses' common property when they or one of them is the owner of a trade secret;

of disputes between the owner of the trade secret and the confidant;

disputes between the founders of the owner of the trade secret and (or) the confidential.

Article 18. Settlement of disputes

Disputes in the field of protection and use of trade secrets shall be resolved in accordance with the procedure established by law.

Article 19. Liability for violation of legislation on trade secrets

Persons guilty of violating the legislation on trade secrets shall be held liable in accordance with the established procedure.

Article 20. Harmonization of legislation with this Law

To the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan:

bring government decisions into compliance with this Law;

to ensure revision and abolition by the state administration bodies of their normative-legal acts contradicting this Law.

Article 21. Entry into force of this Law

This Law shall enter into force on the date of its official publication.

President of the Republic of Uzbekistan I. KARIMOV

Tashkent city,

11 september 2014 y.,

No. 374