Cap. 589 Art. 9Preservation of confidentiality of trade secrets in the course of legal proceedings.   Cap. 586.

(1) The parties, their lawyers or other representatives, court officials, witnesses, experts and any other person participating in legal proceedings relating to the unlawful acquisition, use or disclosure of a trade secret, or who has access to documents which form part of those legal proceedings, is not permitted to use or disclose any trade secret or alleged trade secret which the competent court has, in response to a duly reasoned application by an interested party, identified as confidential and of which they have become aware as a result of such participation or access to the proceedings.

(2) The obligation not to use or disclose any trade secret or alleged trade secret referred to in sub-article (1) shall remain in force after the legal proceedings have ended. However, such obligation shall cease to exist in any of the following circumstances:

(a) where the alleged trade secret is found, by a final decision, not to meet the requirements of a trade secret as defined in article 2; or

(b) where over time, the information in question becomes generally known among or readily accessible to persons within the circles that normally deal with that kind of information.

(3) The competent court may take specific measures ex officio necessary to preserve the confidentiality of any trade secret or alleged trade secret used or referred to in the course of legal proceedings relating to the unlawful acquisition, use or disclosure of a trade secret.

(4) Upon an application referred to in sub-article (1) the competent court may:

(a) restrict access to any document containing trade secrets or alleged trade secrets submitted by the parties or third parties, in whole or in part, to a limited number of persons;

(b) restrict access to hearings, when trade secrets or alleged trade secrets may be disclosed, and the corresponding record or transcript of those hearings to a limited number of persons;

(c) make available to any person other than those comprised in the limited number of persons referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b) a non-confidential version of any judicial decision, in which the passages containing trade secrets have been removed or redacted:

Provided that the number of persons referred to in paragraphs

(a) and (b) shall be no greater than necessary to ensure compliance with the right of the parties to the legal proceedings to an effective remedy and to a fair trial, and shall include, at least, one natural person from each party and the respective lawyers or other representatives of those parties to the legal proceedings.

(5) When deciding on the measures referred to in this article, the competent court shall take into account the need to ensure the right to an effective remedy and to a fair trial, the legitimate interests of the parties and, where appropriate, of third parties, and any potential harm for either of the parties, and, where appropriate, for third parties, resulting from the granting or rejection of such measures.

(6) Any processing of personal data pursuant to this article shall be carried out in accordance with the Data Protection Act and

Regulation 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation).