The Criminal Code of Canada has been amended to include an offence relating to trade secrets. The amendment was made pursuant to the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement Implementation Act, (S.C 2020, c.1), which implements the Agreement between Canada, the United States of America and the United Mexican States, revising the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
The Trade Secrets Offence states:
391 (1) Everyone commits an offence who, by deceit, falsehood or other fraudulent means, knowingly obtains a trade secret or communicates or makes available a trade secret.
(2) Everyone commits an offence who knowingly obtains a trade secret or communicates or makes available a trade secret knowing that it was obtained by the commission of an offence under subsection (1).
(3) Everyone who commits an offence referred to in subsection (1) or (2) is guilty:
(a) of an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 14 years; or
(b) of an offence punishable on summary conviction.
(4) For greater certainty, no person commits an offence under subsection (1) or (2) if the trade secret was obtained by independent development or by reason only of reverse engineering.
(5) For the purpose of this section, trade secret means any information that:
(a) is not generally known in the trade or business that uses or may use that information;
(b) has economic value from not being generally known; and
(c) is the subject of efforts that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy.
Please feel free to contact the author if you would like to discuss any of the above or if I can otherwise provide assistance.
Daniel Nashid
Barrister & Solicitor
416.892.2509
[email protected]