WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION
ORGANISATION MONDIALE DU COMMERCE
ORGANIZACIÓN MUNDIAL DEL COMERCIOIP/N/1/MDA/U/1
6 February 2002
(02-0564)
Council for Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property RightsOriginal:  English/
anglais/
inglés
MAIN DEDICATED INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
LAWS AND REGULATIONS NOTIFIED UNDER
ARTICLE 63.2 OF THE AGREEMENT
MOLDOVA
The present document reproduces the text1 of the Law on Commercial Secrets Nº 171-XIII, as
last amended in 2001, as notified by Moldova under Article 63.2 of the Agreement (see document
IP/N/1/MDA/1).
Conseil des aspects des droits de propriétéintellectuelle qui touchent au commerce
PRINCIPALES LOIS ET RÉGLEMENTATIONS CONSACRÉES À LA
PROPRIÉTÉ INTELLECTUELLE NOTIFIÉES AU TITRE
DE L'ARTICLE 63:2 DE L'ACCORD
MOLDOVA
Le présent document contient le texte
1 de la Loi n° 171-XIII sur la protection du secret
commercial, modifiée pour la dernière fois en 2001, qui a été notifié par la Moldova au titre de
l'article 63:2 de l'Accord (voir le document IP/N/1/MDA/1).
Consejo de los Aspectos de los Derechos de PropiedadIntelectual relacionados con el Comercio
PRINCIPALES LEYES Y REGLAMENTOS DEDICADOS A LA
PROPIEDAD INTELECTUAL NOTIFICADOS EN VIRTUD
DEL PÁRRAFO 2 DEL ARTÍCULO 63 DEL ACUERDO
MOLDOVA
En el presente documento se reproduce el texto
1 de la Ley Nº 171-XIII sobre la protección de
los secretos comerciales, modificada en 2001, notificado por Moldova de conformidad con lo
dispuesto en el párrafo 2 del artículo 63 del Acuerdo (véase el documento IP/N/1/MDA/1).
                                                     
1 In English only.  The text in the original language is available for consultation by interested
Delegations at the WTO Secretariat./En anglais seulemen t.  Les délégations intéressées peuvent consulter le
texte, dans sa langue d'origine, au Secrétariat de l'OM C./En inglés solamente.  Las delegaciones interesadas
podrán consultar en la Secretaría de la OMC el texto en su idioma original.IP/N/1/MDA/U/1
Page 2
Law of the Republic of Moldova
ON COMMERCIAL SECRET
No. 171-XIII of July 6, 1994
(Official Gazette “Monitorul Ofic ial”, November 10, 1994, No.13/ 126)
The Parliament of the Republic of Moldova shall adopt this Law.
This Law sets up legal bases for the protection of the commercial secret on the territory of the
Republic of Moldova, liability of natural and legal persons for its disclosure. The objective of the Law
is to protect the commercial secrets and to prevent unfair competition during the economic activity.
Chapter I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1. The Concept of Commercial Secret
1. Commercial secret implies information which is not state secret, pertaining to production,
technologies, administration, financial activity and other activity carried out by the economic
agent, the disclosure of which (communication, leakage) may prove injurious to the economic
agent’s interests.
2. Information constituting commercial secret is the property of the business agent, or is in the
possession, use or at the disposal of the latter, within the limits specified by the agent in
compliance with current legislation.
Article 2. Requirements for the Information Constituting Commercial Secret
1. Information constituting commercial secret shall meet the following requirements:
a) should be of real or potential value for the business agent;
b) should not be well-known or accessible according to the legislation;
c) should have a meaning that would comply with the implementation by the business
agent of the relevant measures, necessary for keeping the information confidential,
applying the system of information classification, working out internal regulations
designed to keep the information in se cret, corresponding marking of the documents
and of other information carriers, organization of secret clerk activities;
d)  should not be state secret and should not be protected by copyright or patented;
e) should not contain information about the negative activities of the natural and legal
persons, which may prove injurious to the state interests.
Article 3. Commercial Secret Disclosure
Commercial secret disclosure implies intentional or unintentional actions carried out by the
employees of the economic agent who have access to  the information constituting commercial secret,
which lead to premature disclosure, usage and uncontrolled dissemination of information.IP/N/1/MDA/U/1
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Chapter II
SUBJECT AND OBJECT OF THE COMMERCIAL SECRET
Article 4. Subject of the Commercial Secret
1. Subject of the commercial secret are natural and legal persons from the Republic of Moldova,
as well as from other states.
(Paragraph 1 of Article 4 amended by Law no. 1079-XIV of June 23, 2000)2. The state guarantees to the subject of the commercial secret the right to keep and protect it in
the manner envisaged by the legislation.
Article 5. Objects of the Commercial Secret
1. Objects of the commercial secret (know-how) are the economic interests and intentionally
concealed information pertaining to various aspects and domains of the economy, such asproduction, administration, technical and scientific, financial activities carried out by the
economic agent, protection of which is conditioned by competition interests and eventual
jeopardizing of the agent’s economic safety.
(Paragraph 1 of Article 5 completed by Law no. 1079-XIV of June 23, 2000)2. Groundless attribution of the accessible information to the commercial secret shall be
prohibited.
(Paragraph 2 of Article 5 introduced by Law no. 312-XV of June 28, 2001)3. Contents and volume of information constituting commercial secret shall be defined by the
business agent.
4. The following cannot be regarded as object of the commercial secret:
a) documents on establishment, as well as documents authorizing to practice business
activities and some types of economic activity to be licensed;
b)  information in the form of statistical reports, as well as reports on economic and
financial activities and other data necessary for the verification of calculations
correctness and tax payments and other mandatory payments;
c)  documents pertaining to tax payments and other mandatory payments to the national
public budget;
(Subparagraph (c), paragraph 4 of Article 5 in the version of Law no. 390-XV of July 20, 2001)
d) documents proving  solvability;
e) information pertaining to personnel number and structure, payroll, working
conditions, as well as information pertaining to job vacancies;
f) information pertaining to environment pollution, infringement of antimonopoly
legislation, violation of labor protection rules, marketing of goods dangerous for the
consumers’ health, as well as other infringements of legislation and the size of the
caused prejudice.
5. The following cannot be regarded as object of the commercial secret of the state and
municipal enterprises before privatization and during the process of privatization:
a) the amount of property and funds of the enterprise;
b) investment of funds in profitable assets (securities) of the other enterprises, in
obligations and loans, in joint ventures’ equities;IP/N/1/MDA/U/1
Page 4
c)  loan obligations, commercial and other obligations of the enterprise, which proceed
from legislation, and from the concluded contracts;
d) contracts with private enterprises.
6. Documents and information belonging to economic agents and financial institutions about
banking account operations, including those related to discounts on reciprocal financialobligations, as well as documents confirming the actions performed cannot be regarded as
object of the commercial secret of the fiscal authorities and other state control authorities.
(Paragraph 6 of Article 5 introduced by Law no. 390-XV of July 20, 2001)
Article 6. Competence and Liability of Subjects of the Commercial Secret
1. The manner of commercial secret protection under this Law conditions shall be set up by the
business agent or by the appointed executive, who shall announce it to the employees who
have access to information constituting commercial secret.
2. Infringement by the executive officers of the manner of commercial secret protection, set up
by the business agent, or by an executive appointed by him, shall entail legal responsibility.
3. The business agent shall be personally liable for providing necessary conditions ensuring the
commercial secret keeping.
4. The business agent shall be personally liable for attributing accessible information to the
commercial secret.
(Paragraph 4 of Article 6 introduced by Law no. 312-XV of June 28, 2001)
5. The state shall provide assistance to the business agent in creating necessary conditions
ensuring the commercial secret keeping.
Chapter III
PROTECTION OF THE COMMERCIAL SECRET AND ACCESS TO IT
Article 7. The Mechanism of Setting up Ways for Commercial Secret Protection
The subject of the commercial secret shall work  out instructions and regulations on  ensuring
of the commercial secret keeping, which shall specify:
a) Contents and amount of information constituting commercial secret;
b) The way of attribution of the notice  “commercial secret” to information, works and
articles and elimination of this notice therefrom;
c) The procedure of offering access to the economic agent’s employees and persons
involved in its activity to the inform ation constituting commercial secret;
d) The way of using, recording, keeping and marking of documents, other information
carriers and articles which object constitutes a commercial secret;
e) Organization of control on the manner the information containing commercial secret
is used;
f) The procedure of assuming reciprocal obligations by the economic agents regarding
the commercial secret keeping while signing contracts for carrying out some joint
activities;
g) The way of imposing disciplinary measures and penalties, foreseen by the legislation,
on the employees who disclosed the commercial secret;
h)  Make the economic agent’s official responsible for keeping the commercial secret
safe.IP/N/1/MDA/U/1
Page 5
Article 8. Obligations of the Economic Agent’s Employees Regarding the Commercial Secret
Keeping
1. The employees of the economic agent having access to information constituting commercial
secret shall assume the following obligations:
a) to keep the commercial secret which they shall get to know in the process of work
and shall not disclose it unless authorized to do so in a due manner, provided that the
information constituting commercial secret was not known to them before, or was not
transmitted to them by a third person without the obligation to keep its
confidentiality;
b) to comply with the requirements of instructions, regulations or provisions regarding
the ensuring of the commercial secret keeping;
c) where strangers try to obtain from them information constituting commercial secret,
to announce immediately the relevant exec utive or the relevant subdivision of the
economic agent;
d) to keep the commercial secret of the economic agents with whom they have business
relations;
e) not to use the commercial secret for practicing some activities, which being regarded
as competitive, may cause prejudice to the economic agent;
f) in case of resignation or dismissal, to pass all information carriers constituting
commercial secret (manuscripts, rough copies, documents, drawings, magnetic tapes,
punched cards, punched tapes, discs, diskettes, printed stuff, photo and cinema films,samples, materials, etc.) which were at their disposal, to the relevant executive or to
the relevant subdivision of  the economic agent.
2. The above mentioned obligations shall be assumed in written form on signing the labor
contract or any other contract, or in the process of its implementation.
Article 9. Specialized Subdivisions for Commercial Secret Protection
1. With the view to provide protection of the commercial secret of the big economic agents,
special subdivisions with a secret regime may be created, the functions and powers of which
shall be reflected in the relevant instructions, regulations and provisions.
2. The legal order protection bodies and other government bodies shall provide assistance to the
economic agent’s secret regime subdivisions in the course of carrying out the entrustedfunctions.
Article 10. Commercial Secret Protection in the Course of the Economic Agents’ Interaction
1. During the period when the economic agents maintain economic and commercial, technical
and scientific, financial and other business relations, including with foreign partners, the
contracting parties shall promptly stipulate the character and contents of information
constituting commercial secret, as well as reciprocal obligations regarding the commercial
secret keeping in conformity with the current legislation.
2. Where a contract is concluded with a foreign partner, the conditions of keeping the activity’s
confidentiality shall meet the legal requirements of the country where the contract is
concluded, unless otherwise provided by the interstate agreements.
Article11. Access to Commercial Secret
1. Access to commercial secret is open to persons appointed by the business agent.
2.  State control and order protection bodies, in compliance with the powers legally provided
regarding control and supervision, shall have the right, within the limits of their competence,
to get acquainted, based on a written application, with information  constituting commercialIP/N/1/MDA/U/1
Page 6
secret, including with information of the financial institutions,  and draw up relevant
documents which shall permit opening of documents proving legislation infringements.
(Paragraph 2 of Article 11 completed by Law no. 390-XV of July 20, 2001)
3.  The chief executives of these bodies shall be legally responsible for the disclosure of
information constituting the commercial secret of the economic agent.
4. Other bodies and organizations, including mass media, shall not have the right to request
information constituting commercial secret from the economic agent.
Article12. Obligations of Natural and Legal Persons Who Have Access to Information
Constituting a Commercial Secret
1. Natural and legal persons, including official representatives of state controlling or supervisory
authorities, who have access to information constituting a commercial secret, shall be obliged
to strictly respect the requirements referring to  its non-disclosure, to prevent the information
leakage to third parties, its use or acquisition by the third parties without the owner’s consentand in a way contrary to fair trade practices (annulment of contract, breach of confidence and
inducement to breach, acquisition of secret info rmation by third parties who knew that such
an acquisition would imply unfair trade practices,  or in regard of whom such unfair trade
practices were testified, or were grossly negligent or ignoring that such practices were
involved in the acquisition), so long as such information:
a) is secret in the sense that is not, in its integrity or in the precise configuration and
assembly of its components, generally known or readily accessible to persons within
the circles that normally deal with the kind of information in question;
b) has commercial value because it is secret; and
c) has been subject to reasonable provisions for keeping it secret made by the person
lawfully in control of the information.
2) Where authorization for marketing of pharmaceutical or agricultural chemical
products, which include new chemical subs tances, is conditioned by disclosure of
secret data resulting from tests or other secret data, which imply a considerable effortto be proved, these data shall be protect ed against any unfair commercial use and
against any disclosure, except where disclosu re is necessary to protect the public, or
where steps are taken to ensure that the data are protected against unfair commercialuse.
(Article 12 in the version of Law no. 1079/XIV of June 23, 2000)
Article 13. Limits of Access to Commercial Secret in the Court of Justice and in the Arbitration
Court
1. In the process of judicial consideration of various disputes, access of the Court of Justice, the
Arbitration Court and the third persons to the objects constituting commercial secret shall be
permitted only to the extent of direct connection to the subject matter of the  dispute, wherethe economic agent presents itself either as a plaintiff or as a defendant. Legitimate interests
related to the protection of industrial and commercial secrets of all parties shall be considered
upon submission of adequate evidence.
(Paragraph 1 of Article 13 completed by Law no. 1079-XIV of June 23, 2000)2. Unrestricted access of the Court of Justice and the Arbitration Court to accounting records
and to other commercial documents shall be allowed in the following cases:IP/N/1/MDA/U/1
Page 7
a) initiation of lawsuits in case of bankruptcy and liquidation of the economic agent;
b) disputes concerning the right of succession or the division of the common effects of
spouses;
c) disputes between the founders of the economic agent.
Article13/1. Consulting Foreign Author ities on Commercial Secret Assurance
With the view to eliminate alleged violations of laws and regulations of a foreign country,
resulting from the actions of citizens of the Republic of Moldova or persons domiciled in the Republic
of Moldova, any authority of the foreign country shall be entitled to request that responsible
authorities of the Republic of Moldova provide them with publicly non-confidential information ofrelevance to the matter in question, and with other information available, provided that the domestic
law is respected and a mutually satisfactory agreem ent concerning the  respect of the confidentiality
of such information is concluded.
(Article 13/1 introduced by Law no. 1079-XIV of June 23, 2000)
Article 14. Reasons for Determining of Commercial Secret Disclosure
Transmission of information constituting commercial secret to third persons shall entail
penalties, disciplinary, administrative and criminal liability stipulated by legislation, provided that theinformation disclosed was kept by the economic agent in secret, that it was duly entrusted to the
person who disclosed it without the authorization to do so, and such disclosure  prejudiced the
economic agent.
Article 15. Liability for Commercial Secret Disclosure
1. Violation of this Law and of other normative acts pertaining to the commercial secret by the
natural and legal persons shall entail legal responsibility in compliance with the current
legislation.
2. Employees of economic agents, of state organizations, as well as the persons who illicitly
received or appropriated information constituting commercial secret shall be obliged to
reimburse the damages caused to the economic or business agent.
President of the Republic of Moldova                                      Mircea SNEGUR
Chisinau, July 6, 1994
No. 171- XIII
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