IATE term of the week: Trade Secret

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Trade Secret

Terminology standardization is crucial in order to guarantee consistency and reliability, particularly in legislation, but it can also be extended to any other field (medicine, finance, technology, etc). This explains, bringing up the example of the IATE term of the week, why terminology is so important in our daily life.

Often, the EU establishes a wide definition of those terms that are not well defined in all Member States, as it is the case of trade secret.

Indeed, the increasing number of misappropriation of secrets in trading (considering ‘secrets’ as specific technology, manufacturing processes or recipes such as the Coca-Cola’s formula, probably the most famous one) urges an imminent regulation. Only in 2013, 25% of European companies reported at least one case of information theft, according to the European Commission.

For this reason, the European Parliament is currently working on the draft of an agreement that ensures the rights of the victims of trade secret, respecting at the same time freedom of expression without impeding the work of journalists in investigation.

Trade secret is then defined as “confidential business information that is not generally known, has commercial value because it is secret and has been subject to reasonable steps to keep it secret”.

Trade Secret IATE

[su_note note_color=”#dcea0f”][su_button url=”https://docs.google.com/forms/d/19De4BTz7VQeyQ07hddEEynScwiLZz0yFTiZb33XOlpc/edit#” style=”flat”]Contribute to IATE![/su_button] We would welcome your contribution if you know the correct term in your language and it is among the missing ones or if it needs an update. A terminologist for the respective language will revise your answer and validate it. Given the implications of the process, a delay is to be expected.
Languages to be completed for this term in IATE: BG, ES, CS, ET, EL, GA, HR, IT, LT, MT, PL, SK, SL [/su_note]

Sources:

IATE Trade Secret

 

Written by Ana Escaso Moreno
Communication
Trainee at TermCoord
Journalist & Social Media manager