Share the data you must share-without giving away your trade secrets.
A practical playbook: identify trade secret fields, agree safeguards, implement technical controls, and keep a defensible audit trail.
Structured answer sets in this page tree.
Cited legal and guidance references.
The EU Data Act expects data holders to make certain data available even when parts of the dataset qualify as trade secrets. The compliance strategy is not "refuse to share"-it's "share with safeguards". That means: identify trade secret fields up front, agree the necessary confidentiality measures with the recipient, apply technical controls, and keep evidence. If the parties cannot agree the necessary measures, or if the recipient undermines confidentiality, the Data Act's trade secret mechanism allows withholding or suspension for the trade secret parts under specific conditions.
Trade secret protection fails when it's ad hoc. Build a repeatable classification workflow that engineers can run, with business owner accountability and legal review triggers.
Treat trade secret marking like data classification: predictable labels, consistent enforcement, and versioned decisions.
The trade secret mechanism is not a blanket refusal. It is a targeted control for trade secret parts of the dataset where safeguards are missing or breached.
If you use it, you need a case file: what was requested, what measures were proposed, what failed, and what was withheld/suspended.
Chapter V requests explicitly expect trade secret protection and proportionate safeguards. Build trade secret marking and confidentiality controls into your B2G disclosure pipeline the same way you do for Chapter II/III disclosures.
Public-sector disclosure still needs: minimisation, secure transfer, strict access, and logs.
Trade secret disputes are evidence disputes. Keep artifacts that show you identified trade secrets, proposed measures, and shared responsibly.
If you withheld or suspended sharing, keep the full case file and decision rationale.
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