Економска шпијунажа и заштита конкурентности - контроверзе европског законодавства
Economic espionage and protection of competitiveness - controversies of European legislation

Summary/Abstract: Today’s time is characterized by, among other things, the domination of the most developed countries in the sphere of economic espionage, which in the business world represents technological and developmental supremacy over competition. What represents supremacy today is information which has become the fourth obligatory factor of production, beside capital, work power and technology. The very information is the most important for acquiring advantages over competition and this is why the biggest world companies use an increasing amount of their capacities for the purpose of carefully protecting industrial, production and financial information which will enable them to gain advantage over competition and position better on the domestic and global market. Protection of confidential information from espionage or theft is critically important for the organizations that want to maintain their competitiveness and supremacy on the market. It is considered that over 70% of the value of a typical small or medium business is in its intellectual resources – knowledge, technology, employees or know-how. But how many employees actually knows and understands what trade secret is? The article before you strives to identify the main characteristics of legal framework and business practices in the protection of trade secrets. We specifically gave an overview of European legislation and the perceived shortcomings in the existing laws and practice. The article focuses on some of the controversies of European legislation in this field, especially its emphasis on civil law, and outlines the importance of the protection of trade secrets through criminal law. This law would empower European companies in their struggle against business espionage which endangers their development and by extension, their competitiveness.

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