Trade secret and protection of whistleblowers under the legislation of the EU and Ukraine

In order to bring Ukrainian legislation closer to European Union legislation, there is a need to study national legislation on the relationship between the protection of trade secrets and the protection of whistleblowers. This article contains an analysis of the legislation of the EU and Ukraine on the relationship between the legal regulation of the protection of trade secrets and the protection of whistleblowers.The analysis conducted in the article found that EU legislation on the protection of whistleblowers complements the legislation on the protection of trade secrets. In Ukraine, there is no special legislation on the protection of trade secrets. The legislation on the protection of whistleblowers in Ukraine has a limited effect and applies only to whistleblowers who disclose information about corruption acts. A trade secret is not protected if it is illegally acquired, used, or disclosed to protect public interests. A whistleblower is exempted from liability for disclosing trade secrets obtained legally if they had reasonable grounds to believe the disclosure was necessary to identify the offence. Reporting information about an offence that discloses a trade secret and is subject to a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is not a violation of trade secret rights, except in the case of knowingly false reporting. It is necessary to ensure protection for whistleblowers from any form of retaliation, and to provide guarantees for the protection of their labour rights. Protection should also be extended to employers who may suffer from a whistleblower who unreasonably disclosed a trade secret when reporting an alleged offence. In Ukraine, there is a need to createspecial legislation that will define cases where commercial secrets can be disclosed without negative consequences, such as legal liability.It was concluded that in Ukraine, it is necessary to create a consolidated legislative act to strengthen legislative guarantees for the protection of trade secrets and the protection of whistleblowers, which will comply with Directive (EU) 2016/943 and Directive (EU) 2019/1937.