Undisclosed information shall be protected under the provisions of this Law when they meet the following criteria:

1. Information which is confidential, in the sense that it is not, as a body or in the precise configuration or assembly of its components, generally known or common among those involved in the industrial art within the scope of which the information falls.

2. Information that has commercial value because it is confidential.

3. Information that depends on the effective measures taken by the person lawfully in control of it, to keep it confidential.

Protection conferred by the provisions of this Law shall extend to undisclosed information that involved a considerable effort, submitted on request to the competent authorities for marketing of pharmaceutical or agrochemical products which utilize new chemical components necessary for the tests undertaken to allow such marketing.

The competent authorities who receive such information shall protect it against disclosure and unfair commercial use from the date of its submission to the competent authorities until it is no longer confidential, or for a period not exceeding five years, whichever comes first.

Disclosure of information, by the competent authorities, where necessary to protect the public shall not be deemed to constitute an infringement of the information owner’s rights.

The person lawfully in control of undisclosed information shall take all appropriate measures to preserve the confidentiality of such information and prevent its circulation amongst unauthorized persons.

He shall also be liable to organize and limit the circulation of such information within the establishment to lawfully authorized persons, to preserve and prevent the leakage of such information to third parties.

The person who is lawfully in control of such information shall not be exempt from liability when others infringe the information, unless he proves that he has exerted reasonable and adequate efforts to preserve such information.

The confidentiality of information, and the attendant rights to prevent others from infringing such information, shall subsist insofar as the information is considered undisclosed according to the provision of Article 55.

The rights conferred on the person who is lawfully in control of undisclosed information shall be limited to the prevention of others from infringing such information by performing any act which is contrary to fair commercial practices, as stipulated in Article 58. The person who is lawfully in control may resort to court in case of proven perpetration by a third party of any of those acts.

The following acts shall be deemed, in particular, to be contrary to fair commercial practices, and to constitute acts of unfair competition:

1. Bribery to acquire the information from employees working at the establishment which owns the information.

2. Incitement of employees to disclose information acquired by virtue of their employment.

3. Disclosure by a party in “confidential information contracts” of information thus acquired.

4. Acquisition of information, from the place where it is preserved, through illicit means, such as theft, espionage or the like.

5. Acquisition of information through fraudulent means.

6. Use of information acquired by any of the previous means by a third party aware of its being confidential and that it was acquired by one of the above means.

Shall be deemed to constitute an act of infringement of undisclosed information, the consequences of the stated acts by way of disclosing, acquiring or using such information by a third party without being authorized by the lawful owner.

The following acts shall not be deemed to be contrary to fair commercial practices:

1. Acquisition of information from available public sources such as libraries, including patent office libraries, public government records and published research, studies and reports.

2. Acquisition of information by exerting personal independent efforts to extract information through examination, testing and analysis of products in circulation which incorporate the undisclosed information.

3. Acquisition of information as a result of efforts of scientific research, innovation, invention, development, modification and improvement exerted by persons independently from the owner of undisclosed information.

4. Acquisition and use of known and available information which circulates among those involved in the industrial art within the scope of which the information falls.

The person who is lawfully in control of undisclosed information, or his successor, may assign such information to third parties, against or without compensation.

Without prejudice to any more severe punishment stipulated under any other law, any person who uses an illegal means to disclose information protected by the provisions of this Law, acquire or use such an information while aware of its confidentiality and that it was acquired by such illegal means, shall be punishable by a fine of not less than 10,000 pounds and not more than 50,000 pounds.

In case of repetition, the punishment shall be an imprisonment for a period of not more than two years and a fine of not less than 50,000 pounds and not more than 100,000 pounds.

The provisions of Articles 4, 33, 35 and 42 shall apply to this Chapter.