– Confidentiality Act No. 24.766.

– WTO's TRIPS Agreement, since January 1, 1995.

Definition: there is no legal definition of a trade secret. There is a definition of Unrevealed Information in Article 1 of the Confidentiality Act No. 24.766 which is identical to the definition in Article 39 of the TRIPS Agreement: natural and legal persons shall have the possibility of preventing information lawfully within their control from being disclosed to, acquired by, or used by others without their consent in a manner contrary to honest commercial practices so long as such information: (1) is secret in the sense that it is not, as a body or in the precise configuration and assembly of its components, generally known among or readily accessible to persons within the circles that normally deal with the kind of information in question; (2) has commercial value because it is secret; and (3) has been subject to reasonable steps under the circumstances, by the person lawfully in control of the information, to keep it secret.

Assignment - licensing: possible.

Remedies for misappropriation: the owner of a trade secret may (1) obtain an injunction to cease the infringing actions; (2) start civil court actions to obtain the prohibition of use of the undisclosed information and the collection of damages suffered by unlawful practices; (3) start criminal actions against the infringer. The Criminal Code foresees sanctions involving fines, imprisonment and professional disqualification, depending on the circumstances of the case.