Huang Li, the member of the CPPCC and the chairman of Gaode Infrared, pointed out in this Two Sessions that China needs to strengthen the criminal protection for commercial secrets. Although the protection for intellectual property has made great achievements in recent years, the protection for trade secrets is still relatively weak, which greatly affects the development and international competitiveness of our high-tech enterprises. In respect of this problem, Huang Li has submitted a proposal named Proposal on Strengthening the Criminal Protection for Trade Secrets, Encouraging the Development of Technology and Stimulating the Vitality of National Innovation.

"Trade Secrets, Highly Competitive Intangible Wealth"

Trade secrets, the technical information and business information unknown to the public, are one of the objects of intellectual property, playing an important role in the competition among market entities. The infringement of trade secrets, as a typical act of unfair competition,disrupts the market order and business environment to a large extent, having a great negative impact on the investment enthusiasm of market entities.

"Lack of Protection, how to protect the interests of enterprises"

Recent years, China has made great achievements in intellectual property protection under the lead of the government, the intellectual property legal system and protection system have been improved and the protection efforts have been continuously strengthened. However, It should be noted that the policies and laws cannot meet the actual needs which makes the occurance of some weak links.

On March 7, 2022, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the National Trade Secret Protection Innovation Pilot Work Plan to deploy and carry out the innovation pilot work for commercial secret protection. The Plan aims to improve the governance level and protection efficiency of trade secret protection in the pilot areas within three years, and create an overall environment that attaches importance to trade secrets, respects trade secrets, and protects trade secrets. The issuance of this plan marks a big step forward on the road of trade secret protection in China, and it also reflects that the relevant laws and regulations in this field are still have a lot of room for improvement.

"Investigate cases, increase judicial protection of trade secrets"

After long-term research, Huang Li pointed out an opinion based on his own experience that the reason why it is difficult for enterprises to get the justice in the infringement of trade secrets is that they are usually stuck in a dilemma through judicial channel. It is difficult for them to file a case, let along to obtain evidence. In this regard, he suggested that the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security should further participate in the investigation and cracking of trade secret infringement cases, clarify their rights and responsibilities, increase case handling efforts, and reduce the pressure on enterprises.

For example, the Ministry of Public Security should cooperate with the Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and the Federation of Industry and Commerce to set up points to conduct statistical investigations on trade secret infringement cases, so as to understand the real situation of trade secret infringement. At the same time, a clearer standards for filing criminal cases of trade secrets should be formulated jointly by the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security, taking the lead in carrying out special actions to accept and file trade secret infringement cases. On this basis, the public security organs should strictly enforce the law to investigate the infringment cases as much as possible. For cases that cannot be accepted by the community-level organs, a green channel or hotline for intellectual property protection should be established to provide enterprises with a channel to continue to speak out. Finally, after filing a case, the public security organs should strictly abide by the case-handling process and take corresponding criminal investigation measures to collect evidence. They should not transfer the responsibility and pressure for obtaining evidence to the enterprise and require the enterprise to provide evidence that is obviously beyond its capacity.