The Implementation of the Trade Secrets Directive in the Nordic Countries

Abstract

This paper describes and discusses the implementation of the EU Directive on trade secrets in the Nordic countries (i.e. Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden). After a brief introduction to the traditional (and rather varying) protection systems in the countries, it is shown how the choices made by the Nordic legislators vary from one country to the next. In Sweden, for instance the definition of what constitutes a ‘trade secret’ differs from the one in the Directive (and in the other countries) and Denmark and Finland seem to diverge on the protection of ‘entrusted technical drawings’. The result is a homogeneous but not identical Nordic legal landscape.