IP/N/1/MDA/U/2  
 
8 November 2013  
(13-6192)  Page: 1/8  
Council for Trade-Related Aspects 
of Intellectual Property Rights  Original: English/anglais/inglés  
  
MAIN DEDICATED INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAWS AND 
REGULATIONS NOTIFIED UNDER ARTICLE 63.2 
OF THE AGREEMENT 
 
R
EPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA  
This document reproduces the updated and consolidated text1 of Law No. 171-XIII of July 6, 1994 
on Commercial Secret, as notified by the Re public of Moldova on 17 September 2013 under 
Article 63.2 of the Agreement (see document IP/N/1/MDA/2).  
Conseil des aspects des droits de propriété 
intellectuelle qui touchent au commerce   
PRINCIPALES LOIS ET RÉGLEMENTATIONS CONSACRÉES À 
LA PROPRIÉTÉ INTELLECTUELLE NOTIFIÉES AU TITRE 
DE L'ARTICLE 63:2 DE L'ACCORD 
 
R
ÉPUBLIQUE DE MOLDOVA  
Le présent document contient le texte1 de la Loi n° 171-XIII du 6 juillet 1994 sur les 
renseignements commerciaux confidentiels, notifiée par la République de Moldova le 
17 septembre 2013 au titre de l'article 63:2 de l'Accord (voir le document IP/N/1/MDA/2). 
 
Consejo de los Aspectos de los Derechos de Propiedad 
Intelectual relacionados con el Comercio   
PRINCIPALES LEYES Y REGLAMENTOS DEDICADOS A LA 
PROPIEDAD INTELECTUAL NOTIFICADOS EN VIRTUD 
DEL PÁRRAFO 2 DEL ARTÍCULO 63 DEL ACUERDO 
 
R
EPÚBLICA DE MOLDOVA  
En el presente documento se reproduce el texto1 de la Ley de secretos comerciales Nº 171-XIII, de 
6 de julio de 1994, notificada por la República de Moldova el 17 de septiembre de 2013 en virtud 
de lo dispuesto en el párrafo 2 del artículo 63 del Acuerdo (véase el documento IP/N/1/MDA/2).   
                                               
1 In English only./En anglais seulement./En inglés solamente. IP/N/1/MDA/U/2 
 
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Unofficial translation 
 
 
 
PARLIAMENT OF THE RE PUBLIC OF MOLDOVA 
 
LAW 
on Commercial Secret 
no. 171-XIII of July 6, 1994 
 
Official Gazette ("Monitorul Oficial") no.13/126 of 10.11.1194 
 
*** 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTs 
 
Chapter I 
GENERAL PROVISIONS 
 
Article 1.  The Concept of Commercial Secret  
Article 2.  Requirements for the Information Constituting Commercial Secret  Article 3.  Commercial Secret Disclosure  
 
Chapter II 
SUBJECT AND OBJECT OF THE COMMERCIAL SECRET 
 
Article 4.  Subject of the Commercial Secret  Article 5.  Objects of the Commercial Secret  Article 6.  Competence and Liability of Subjects of the Commercial Secret  
 
Chapter III 
PROTECTION OF THE COMMERCIAL SECRET AND ACCESS TO IT 
 
Article 7.  The Mechanism of Setting up Ways for Commercial Secret Protection  Article 8.  Obligations of the Economic Agent's Employees Regarding the Commercial Secret 
Keeping  
Article 9.  Specialized Subdivisions for Commercial Secret Protection  Article 10.  Commercial Secret Protection in the Course of the Economic Agents' Interaction  Article 11.  Access to Commercial Secret  
Article 12.  Obligations of Natural and Legal Persons Who Have Access to Information 
Constituting a Commercial Secret  
Article 13.  Limits of Access to Commercial Secret in the Court of Justice and in the Arbitration 
Court  
Article 13/1. Consulting Foreign Authorities on Commercial Secret Assurance  Article 14.  Reasons for Determining of Commercial Secret Disclosure  
Article 15.  Liability for Commercial Secret Disclosure  
   
 
  
 
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.  
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  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 (communicati on, 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 Inform ation Constituting Commercial Secret  
 1.  Information constituting commercial secret shall meet the following requirements:  
 
a) Shall be of real or potential value for the business agent;   b) shall not be well-known or accessible according to the legislation;  
 
c) shall 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 secret, corresponding marking of the documents and of other information carriers, organization of secret clerk activities;  
 
d) shall not be a state secret and should not be protected by copyright or by a patent for 
inventions;  
 
e) shall not contain information about the negative activities of the natural and legal 
persons, which may prove injurious to the state interests.  
 
(Article 2 amended by Law no. 111 of 17.05.2012)  
 Article 3.  Commercial Secret Disclosure  
 
Commercial secret disclosure implies intentional or unintentional actions carried out by civil servants, state officials, employees of the economic agent and other persons who have access to the information constituting commercial secret that has been entrusted or has become known 
within their service duties or work, which lead  to premature disclosure, usage and uncontrolled 
dissemination of information.   
(Article 3 amended by Law no. 204-XVI of July 22, 2005)  
  
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.  
 
2. The state guarantees to the subject of the co mmercial secret the right to keep and protect it 
in the manner envisaged by the legislation.  
 
(Article 4 amended by the Law no. 1079-XIV of June 23, 2000)   IP/N/1/MDA/U/2 
 
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  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 as 
production, 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.  
 
2. Groundless attribution of the accessible information to the commercial secret shall be 
prohibited.  
 
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;  
 
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 an d 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;  
 
c) loan obligations, commercial and other obligations of the enterprise, which proceed 
from legislation, and from the concluded contracts;  
 
d) contracts with private enterprises.  
 (Article 5 amended by the Law no. 195 of July 15, 2010)  (Article 5 amended by the Law no. 290-XV July 22, 2004)  
(Article 5 amended by the Law no. 390-XV of July 20, 2001)  
(Article 5 amended by the Law no. 312-XV of June 28, 2001)  (Article 5 amended by the Law no. 1079-XIV of June 23, 2000)  
 
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.  
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  2. Infringement by the executive officers of th e manner of commercial secret protection, set up 
by the business agent, or by an executive appoin ted 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.  
 5.  The state shall provide assistance to the business agent in creating necessary conditions 
ensuring the commercial secret keeping.  
 
(Article 6 amended by the Law no. 312-XV of June 28, 2001)   
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 information 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.  
 
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;  
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  c) where strangers try to obtain from them information constituting commercial secret, 
to announce immediately the relevant executive or the relevant subdivision of the economic agent;  
 
d) to keep the commercial secret of the econ omic 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, diskette s, 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 th e 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 entrusted 
functions.  
 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 requirem ents of the country where the contract is 
concluded, unless otherwise provided by the interstate agreements.  
 
Article 11.  Access to Commercial Secret   
1. Access to commercial secret is open to persons appointed by the business agent.  
 2. State bodies, within the limits of their lega l competence, are entitled, based on a written 
application, signed by the authorized pers on, to request and receive, free of charge, 
information constituting the commercial secret.  
 3. The chief executives of these bodies sha ll 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.  
 (Article 11 amended by the Law no. 204-XVI of July 22, 2005)  
(Article 11 amended by the Law no. 390-XV of July 20, 2001)  
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  Article 12.  Obligations of Natural and Le gal Persons Who Have Access to Information 
Constituting a Commercial Secret  
 1.  Natural and legal persons, including offi cial 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 consent and in a way contrary to fair trade practices (annulment of 
contract, breach of confidence and inducement to breach, acquisition of secret information 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 substances, is conditioned by disclosure of secret data resulting 
from tests or other secret data, which imply a considerable effort to be proved, these data 
shall be protected against any unfair commercial use and against any disclosure, except where disclosure is necessary to protect the public, or where steps are taken to ensure that 
the data are protected against unfair commercial use.  
 (Article 12 amended by the 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, where the 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.  
 
2.  Unrestricted access of the Court of Justic e and the Arbitration Court to accounting records 
and to other commercial documents shall be allowed in the following cases:  
 
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.  
 
(Article 13 amended by the Law no. 1079-XIV of June 23, 2000)  
 Article 13/1.  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 sh all be entitled to request that responsible 
authorities of the Republic of Moldova provide them with publicly non-confidential information of relevance to the matter in question, and with other information available, provided that the domestic law is respected and a mutually satisfactory agreement concerning the respect of the 
confidentiality of such information is concluded.  IP/N/1/MDA/U/2 
 
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(Article 13/1 introduced by the 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 the 
information 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 Comme rcial 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 orga nizations, 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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