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The Law of the Republic of Tajikistan 
”On commercial Secrets”  
This Law shall govern relations arising in c onnection with the attribution of information 
to a commercial secret, transfer of such informati on, protection of its confidentiality for the 
purpose of providing the balance of int erests between the holders of such information 
constituting a commercial se cret and other parties, including the state, on the market of goods, 
works and services, 
Article 1. Legislation of the Republic of Tajikistan on Commercial Secrets 
The legislation of the Republic of Tajikistan on commercial secrets shall be based on the 
Constitution of the Republic of Ta jikistan and shall consist of thi s Law and other legislative acts 
of the Republic of Tajikistan, as well as international legal ac ts recognized by the Republic of 
Tajikistan.  
Article 2. The Scope of App lication of This Law 
The scope of applicati on of this Law shall include the relations connected with 
information, its transfer and protecti on of its confidentiality for the purpose of procuring the 
balance of interests of the holders of such information. 
The provisions of this Law shall not apply to data  comprising a state or bank secrets. 
Article 3. Basic Terms 
The basic terms used in this Law shall be as follows: 
- a commercial secret shall mean a  confide ntiality of the information enabling its holder 
under the existing or the probable conditions to increase revenues, to avoid unjustified 
expenditures, to retain the position on the market of goods, works and se rvices, or to derive 
another commercial benefit; 
- information comprising a commercial secr et shall mean information of scientific and 
technical, technological, production, financial and economic character or any other information 
of an actual or a potential commercial va lue because it is unknown to the third persons, to which 
there is no free access on lawful grounds and with respect to which the holder of such information has introduced the regime of commercial secrets; 
- a regime of commercial secret shall mean legal, organizational, technical and other 
measures taken by the holder of the information comprising  a commercial secret, on protection 
of its confidentiality; 
-  a holder of the information comprising a c ommercial secret shall mean a person who is 
in possession of the information comprising a commerc ial secret and who restricts access to such 
information on lawful grounds and institutes in respec t of such information a regime of 
commercial secret; 
- an  access to the information comprising a c ommercial secret shall mean the 
familiarization of legal entities and natural persons with the information comprising a 
commercial secret, with the consen t of its holder or, on other  grounds, on the condition of 
preservation of the confidentiality of such information;  
- transfer of the information comprising a comm ercial secret shall mean the transmission 
of the information comprising a commercial secret and recorded on a material medium by its  2 
holder over to a counteragent on a contractual basis in the scope and under the terms specified 
under a contract; 
- a counteragent shall mean a party to a civi l law contract to whic h the holder of the 
information comprising a commercial secret transferred that information; 
- disclosure of the information constituting a comm ercial secret shall mean an action or 
inaction as a result of which the information consti tuting a commercial secret, in any possible 
form (either oral, written or any other form, including with the use of technical means) becomes 
known to third persons without consent of the holder of  such information or contrary to a labor 
or civil law contract. 
Article 4. The Right of Attribution to the Information to the Information 
Comprising a Commercial Secret and Me thods for Obtaining Such Information 
1. The right to attribute information to the information comprising a commercial secret 
and to determine a list and composition of that information shall belong to the holder of such 
information with regard for the provisions of this law. 
2. The information obtained independently by a pe rson shall be deemed as having been 
acquired legally, notwithstanding the fact that the content of such information may coincide with 
the content of the information constituting a commer cial secret, the holder of which is a different 
person. 
3. The information comprising a commercial secret acquired from the holder of such 
information on a contractual basis  or on any other legal grounds, shall be deemed as having been 
acquired by legal methods.  
4. The Information comprising a commercial secret the holder of which is another person, 
shall be deemed as having been acquired il legally when the acquisition of such information was 
effected by intentional overcoming of the measures towards provision of  its confidentiality 
adopted by the holder of the information comprising a commercial secret and also when the 
recipient of such information either knew or  had sufficient eviden ce to assume that such 
information constitutes a commercial secret whose holder is other pe rson and that the person 
transferring such information has no lega l grounds to transfer that information. 
Article 5. Information That May Not Constitute Commercial Secret 
The regime of commercial secret may not be  instituted by a person in respect of the 
following information:  
a) Contained in constituent documents of a legal entity, documents confirming the 
making of entries on legal entities a nd individual entrepreneurs in the relevant state registers;  
b) Contained in documents giving the right to  conduct entrepreneurial activity;  
c) Regarding the composition of  property of a state unitar y enterprise, a government 
agency, and on utilization by them of funds of corresponding budgets; 
d) Regarding pollution of the environment, the condition of fire safety, sanitary-
epidemiological and radiation situation, safety of food products and o ther factors adversely 
affecting provision of the safe functioning of produc tion facilities, security of each citizen and 
security of the population as a whole;  
e) On the composition of employees, system of  labor remuneration, on the indices of job-
related traumatism and occ upational morbidity, as well as  on availability of vacancies;  
f) On arrears of wages and on other  social payments by employers;  
g) On violations of the legislation of the Re public of Tajikistan and facts of instituting 
proceedings for commission of such offences; 
h) On the terms of contests or auctions for privatization of objects of state property, on 
state purchases, on labor and services;  3 
i) On the income and of the structure of non-profit orga nizations, on the amount and 
composition of their property, on the number and remuneration of employees, on the use of 
unpaid labor of citizens in the activity of non-profit organizations;  
j) On a list of persons entitl ed to act without a power of attorney on behalf of a legal 
entity;  
k) Obligation of disclosure of which, or impermissibility of  restricting access to which is 
prescribed under other laws of the Republic of Tajikistan. 
Article 6. The Provision of the Inform ation Constituting a Com mercial Secret 
1. The holder of the information comprising a comm ercial secret shall, upon a motivated 
request of a state power body, a local executive  state authority, provide free of charge the 
information comprising a commercial secret. The motivated request shall be signed by a duly 
authorized official, contain a statement of purpose  and legal grounds for the requested 
information comprising a commercial secret a nd also time limits for provision of such 
information, unless otherwise provided under the legislation of the Republic of Tajikistan.  
2. In case of refusal of the holder of the information comprising a commercial secret to 
provide it to a state authority body, the latter shall have the right to require that information by 
judicial means. 
3. The holder of the information comprising a comm ercial secret, as well as the state 
authority bodies that acquired such information shall, under pa ragraph 1 of this Article, be 
obligated to provide such information at the request of  the court, prosecution agencies, pretrial 
investigation, regarding the cases being processed by them, in accordance with the procedure and 
on the grounds provided for by the legislat ion of the Republic of Tajikistan. 
4. The documents supplied to the bodies, specified unde r paragraphs 1 and 3 of this 
Article, and containing the informa tion constituting a commercial secret shall bear a 
"Commercial secret" stamp, indicating its holder (in case of legal entities  - full denomination and 
location, in case of individual entrepreneurs – family name, first name, patronymic of the citizen 
being an individual entrepreneu r and place of residence).  
Article 7. Rights of the Holder of the In formation Constituting a Commercial Secret 
1. The rights of the holder of  the information comprising a commercial secret shall arise 
from the moment of establishment of a regime of  commercial secret with regard to such 
information in accordance with Article 10 of this Law. 
2. The holder of the information comprising a comm ercial secret shall have the right to: 
a) Establish, change, and cancel in writing the re gime of commercial s ecret in accordance 
with this Law and civil legal contract; 
b) Use the information constituting a commercial secret for o ne’s own needs in a manner 
not contrary to the legislation of the Republic of Tajikistan; 
c) Authorize or prohibit access to the informati on constituting a commercial secret, 
determine the order and c onditions for access to that information unless the current legislation 
establishes a different procedure; 
d) Put on the market the infor mation comprising a commercial secret on the basis of 
contracts providing for a clause for protect ion of confidentiality of information;  
e) Require from legal en tities and natural persons who  acquired access to the information 
constituting a commercial secret and state  authority bodies and local state authority who were 
provided the information constituting a commercial secret, to observe  obligation to protect its 
confidentiality; 
f) Require from persons who acquired access to the information constituting a 
commercial secret as a result of actions pe rformed accidentally or by mistake, to protect  4 
confidentiality of that information; 
g) Enforce his rights with the procedure pres cribed by law in case of disclosure, illegal 
acquisition or illegal use by a third party of the information constituting a commercial secret, as 
well as to require indemnific ation of damages caused in connection with violation of his rights. 
Article 8. Holder of the Information Constituting a Commerc ial Secret Obtained 
within the Framework of Employment Relationships 
1. The holder of the information constituting commercial secret acquired within the 
framework of employment re lationships shall be the employer. 
2. In the event that an employee in connect ion with the fulfillment of his employment 
obligations or a specific task of the employer obtained a result capable of legal protection as an 
invention, a utility model, an industrial design, a topol ogy of integrated circuit, a computer 
program or a data base, the relations between the employee and the employer shall be regulated 
in accordance with the legislati on of the Republic of Tajikistan. 
Article 9. Procedure for Establishing the Regime of Commercial Secret when 
Performing State Contr act for State Needs 
In a state contract for performing scientific research, development and other works for 
state needs the volume of data recognized as confidential shall be specified, as well as the issues 
concerning establishment of the regime of co mmercial secret in respect of the information 
obtained shall be settled.  
Article 10. Protection of the Confidentialit y of the Information Comprising a 
Commercial Secret 
1. Measures on protection of the confidential ity of information taken by its holder shall 
include the following: 
a) Definition of a list of the information constituting a commercial secret;  
b) Use of a commercial secret in ce rtified means of protection of information; 
c) Restriction of access to the information const ituting a commercial secret by 
establishing a procedure for handling that info rmation and for control over compliance with that 
procedure;  
d) Providing the list of persons who acquired  access to the information constituting a 
commercial secret and (or) persons to whom that information was furnished;  
e) Regulation of relations in using the  information constituting a commercial secret by 
employees on the basis of labor contracts and by counteragents  on the basis of civil law 
contracts;  
f) Affixing upon material media (documents) containing the information constituting a 
commercial secret of a "Commercial secret" stamp specifying the holder of that information (in case of legal entities - a full denominati on and place of location, in case of individual 
entrepreneurs – family name, first name, patronymic of the citizen being an individual 
entrepreneur and place of residence).  
2. Regime of commercial se cret shall be deemed as having been established following the 
adoption by the holder of the information constituting a commercial secret of measures specified 
under paragraphs а) and в) of Part 1 of this Article.  
3. An individual entrepreneur being the hold er of the information constituting a 
commercial secret and having no employees with whom labor contracts were concluded shall 
take measures to protect the confidentiality of the information specified under paragraph 1 of this  5 
Article, except for items a) and c), and also provisions of item  e) concerning regulation of labor 
relations. 
4. In addition to the measures specified under pa ragraph 1 of this Article, the holder of 
the information constituting a commercial secr et shall have the right to use, as appropriate, 
means and methods of technical protection of the confidentiality of  that information, other 
measures not contradictory to the legislation of the Republic of Tajikistan. 
5. Measures to protect the confidentiality of information shall be recognized as 
reasonably sufficient, provided that:  
a) Access to the information const ituting a commercial secret by any persons without the 
consent of its holder is excluded;  
b) Provision is made for the use of the informati on constituting a commercial secret by 
employees and transfer of same to counteragents without violatin g the regime of commercial 
secret.  
6. The regime of commercial secret ma y not be used for purposes contradicting the 
requirements of protection of the fundamentals of the constitutiona l system, morality, health, 
taxation, rights and legitimate interests of other  persons, guaranteeing defense of the country and 
security of the state.  
Article 11. Protection of Confidentiality of Information Within the Framework of 
Labor Relations  
1. For the purpose of protection of the c onfidentiality of information the employer shall 
be obligated to:  
a) Familiarize, against the signature, the employee whose access to the information 
constituting a commercial secr et is necessary for him to fulfil l his labor obligations with a list of 
the information constituting a commercial secret, the holder of which is the employer and his 
counteragents;  
b) Familiarize, against the signature, the employee with the regime of commercial 
secrecy established by the employer and with measures of liability for violation of same;  
c) Create necessary conditions for the employee enabling him  to comply with the regime 
of commercial secrecy established by the employer. 
2. Access of the employee to the information consti tuting a commercial secret related to 
his labor obligations shall be carried out onl y with the consent of the employer.  
3. With a view to protect the confidential ity of information, the employee shall be 
obligated:  
а) To observe the regime of commercial  secret established by the employer;  
b) Not to disclose the information constituting a c ommercial secret the holder of which is 
the employer and his counter agents, and not to use that information for personal aims without 
their consent;  
c) Not to disclose the information constituting a commercial secret the holder of which is 
the employer and his counter agents, and not to use that information for personal aims without 
their consent, after termination of  labor contract within the period of time provided for by the 
agreement between the employer and employ ee, which was concluded during the term of 
validity of the labor contract, or  during three years after terminati on of the labor contract, if the 
said agreement has not been concluded; 
d) To compensate a damage done if the e mployee is guilty of disclosure of the 
information constituting a commercial secret  that became known to him in connection with 
performance by him of his labor obligations; 
e) To transfer to the employer, upon te rmination or dissolution of a labor contract, 
material media of information, be ing in the employee’s use,  which contain the information 
constituting a commercial secret.   6 
4. The employer shall have the right to require compensation of damages done by a 
person terminated his labor relations in case wher e that person is guilty of the disclosure of the 
information constituting a commercial secret access to which he acquired in connection with 
performance by him of his labor obliga tions, if the disclosure of such information followed 
during a period established in accordance with item c) of paragraph 3 of this Article. 
5. Caused damages or losses shall not be c ompensated by an employee or a person 
terminated his labor relations, if the disclosure of the information constituting a commercial 
secret was the consequence of force majeure, para mount necessity, or non-fulfillment of duty to 
provide the regime of commercial secret by the employer. 
6. A labor contract with the head of the or ganization shall provide for his obligation to 
ensure protection of the confidenti ality of the information the holder of  which is the organization 
and its counteragents, and for responsibility to ensure protection of its confidentiality. 
7. The head of the organization shall indemnify the organization for damages caused by 
his guilty actions in connection with violation of the legislation of the Republic of Tajikistan on 
commercial secrets. At that, damages shall be determined by the action of the holder in accordance with the civil legislation. 
8. The employee shall have the ri ght to appeal by judicial mea ns illegal institution of the 
regime of commercial secret in respect of the information to which he  acquired access in 
connection with performance by him of his labor obligations.  
Article 12. Protection of Confidentiality of In formation within the Framework of 
Civil Legal Relationships 
1. The relations between the holder of the infor mation constituting a commercial secret 
and his counteragent in part concerning protecti on of the confidentiality of the information shall 
be regulated by law and contract. 
2. The contract shall determi ne the conditions for protection of confidentiality of 
information, including in the case of reorganization or liquidation of one of the parties to the contract in accordance with civi l legislation, as well as obligation of counteragents on 
compensation of damages in the event of the disclosure of such  information in contravention of 
the agreement. 
3. Unless otherwise provided for by the contra ct between the holder of the information 
constituting a commercial se cret and a counteragent, the latter, according to the legislation of the 
Republic of Tajikistan, shall deter mine means for protection of the information constituting a 
commercial secret, transferred to him under the contract. 
4. The counteragent shall be obliga ted to inform the holder of the information 
constituting a commercial secret without dela y about the act committed by the counteragent or 
the act that become known to him of disclosure or thre at of disclosure, illegal receipt or illegal 
use of information constituting a commercial secret by third party. 
5. The holder of the information constituting a c ommercial secret transferred by him to 
the counteragent, may not disclose the infor mation constituting a commercial secret, as well as 
terminate protection of its confide ntiality before termination of the term of validity of the 
contract, unless otherwise established by the contract. 
6. The party who did not ensure protecti on of confidentiality of the information 
transferred according to the contract, in acco rdance with the terms of the contract, shall be 
obligated to compensate to other party for loss es, unless otherwise provided for by the contract. 
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Article 13. Protection of Confidentiality of Information when Providing Thereof 
1. The state authority bodies and local self -government bodies shall, in accordance with 
this Law and other laws of the Republic of Ta jikistan, be obligated to create conditions providing 
for protection of the confidentiality of informa tion transferred to them by legal persons or 
individual entrepreneurs. 
2. The officials of the state a uthority bodies, local state authorities, bodies of local self-
government, government employees of the said bodies shall have  no  right to disclose or transfer 
to other persons the information constit uting a commercial secret that became known to them by 
virtue of performance of offic ial (professional) duties  in the absence of consent of the holder of 
the information constituting a commercial secret, ex cept in cases provided for by this Law, and 
also shall have no right to use that information for lucrative or other personal aims. 
Article 14. Liability for Violation of This Law 
The persons violating the provisions of this La w shall be made liable in accordance with 
the legislation of the Republic of Tajikistan 
Article 15. Procedure Coming into Force of This Law  
This Law shall come into force after its official publication 
President  
of the Republic of Tajikistan    Emomaly Rahmon 
  Dushanbe 18June, 2008  №403