Highlighting its imp or tance in the current geopolitics' cal scenario, the panel said ono mi espionage had deeper implications for the economy and national security as it was directed a the state. The commission observed that misappropriation of trade secrets and economic espionage, though they may appear to be the same, were different. In economic espionage, the actor targeting domestic companies or govt entities to steal their trade se- crets was a foreign govt, and the benefit was derived by it having security implications for the state.
“The aspect of economic espionage, thus, should con tinue to be governed under the existing provisions of Indian Penal Code and common law. An alternate and more suitable approach, however, would be enacting a separate law on prevention of and redressal for economic espionage with more focus original liabilities as fines and damages will hardly suffice in such cases as they lack the requisite deferrent impact,” the commission said. Moreover, the panel said protection of trade secrets, just like in the case of traditional forms of intellectual property, was territorial in nature; however, provisions dealing with economic es pionage may require some extra-territorial application.
“Thus, it would be prudent to have a separate law to ad- dress the issue of economic espionage while commercial espionage will fall within the purview of the proposed Trade Secrets Act,” it said. The reference to the Law Commission was made as the law ministry was examining enacting legislation on eco’ nomic espionage and trade secrets protection and had prepared a draft cabinet note when it decided to ask the law panel to evaluate govt's pro- posed law.
Further, the commission was of the opinion that in defining trade secrets, the law should avoid bestowing any proprietary conceptions to the same. A proposed dratft of such legislation titled the *Protection of Trade Secrets Bill, 2024’ has also been recommended by the panel.
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