European Whistleblowers Fear Prosecution Under New EU Law

BBC – The European Parliament is debating a bill on Thursday critics say threatens to turn whistleblowers into criminals.

The aim of the Trade Secrets Protection Act is to protect European companies from corporate spying by their rivals in other parts of the world.

But critics say journalists and whistleblowers could be criminalised if they publish information that companies deem to be secret.

More than half a million people have signed a petition against the bill.

Industrial espionage is a major worry in the corporate world, and other countries have already put laws in place to protect their companies.

Offenders in the US can be jailed for up to fifteen years, and a quarter of prosecutions involved people connected with China.

According to the European Commission, one in five companies in Europe suffered an attempt to steal trade secrets in the last 10 years.

But opponents of the plans in Europe say the bill is not specific enough about the type of information it is trying to protect.

They fear that the legislation will make it possible for corporations to define any information they do not want released as a trade secret, and then prosecute journalists or whistleblowers who release it to the public.

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