(17 May 2016) The European Commission proposed more protection for commercial secrets in a draft Directive. Despite pressure from concerned unions and broad civil society, the European Parliament and Council negotiated about the directive. The definitions of a trade secret are broad. Whistleblowers have to defend and justify public interest reasons. This directive protects corporations and business interests more than the interests of the public. We are concerned that the adopted proposal is open to abuse. From the letter EPSU has signed with many other groups:
“The trial of Antoine Deltour, Raphaël Halet (the whistleblowers) and Edouard Perrin (the journalist) in the Luxleaks scandal is the perfect example of the threats posed by this directive. The prosecutor justified requesting heavy fines for all and 18 months jail time for the whistleblowers by referring to "the EU Trade Secrets directive widely approved in the European Parliament two weeks ago". Contrary to the denials of the text's supporters, this is already a real life example that the trade secrets protection argument can be used to prosecute journalists and whistleblowers”
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