President signs law “On commercial secret”

Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis of Uzbekistan passed the law on 18 June 2014 and Senate approved it on 28 August 2014. The document came into force on 12 September.

The law is aimed at regulating relations in the field of protection and use of commercial secret.

The law determines main notions, requirements to commercial secrets, information, which cannot be considered as commercial secret, rights of commercial secret owners, measures on information protection and other norms.

According to the law, the commercial secret is an information, which has commercial value in scientific, technological, industrial, economic, financial and other areas, because it is unknown to the third parties and there is no free access to it on legal basis and the owner takes steps to protect its privacy.

The commercial secret should comply with following requirements:

• have actual or potential commercial value for its owner, because it is unknown to the third parties;
• is not generally known or publicly available in accordance with the law;
• is protected to ensure its confidentiality;
• is not state secret and other secrets, protected by law.

The commercial secret cannot include following information on rights to property and deals on them, which should undergo state registration, information included to constitutive documents, documents, which affirm introduction of records to legal entities, information on pollution of environment, state of fire security, sanitary-epidemiologic and radiation situation, etc.

Number of employees, system of payment and conditions of labour, debts on salaries and social welfare, terms of tenders and auctions, violation of legislation and other information also cannot be commercial secret.

The information, which should be disclosed or cannot be limited in line with the legislation, also cannot be commercial secret.