Since 1990, Sweden has had an Act on Protection of Trade Secrets, which provides protection against the unlawful acquisition, use or disclosure of trade secrets. The 1990 Act already met most of the requirements of the Directive.
However, in order to implement the Directive, a number of legislative changes will be made. This will be done mainly through the replacement of the 1990 Act with a new Act on Trade Secrets. Changes will also be made to the Code of Judicial Procedure, to the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act, and to the Act on Measures to Prevent Certain Particularly Serious Crimes.
The implementing legislation was adopted by the Swedish Riksdag on 23 May 2018.
The legislative changes came into force on 1 July 2018.