How can we prevent competitors from accessing research information?

Some operators, project managers (PL), and even biological safety officers (BBS)—all jointly responsible for completing and submitting applications for authorizations for genetic engineering facilities and genetic engineering work—are overly trusting. They complete the applications for the relevant authorizations and provide all information truthfully, including a detailed description of their project.

However, after submission, third parties—often competitors or, in the case of animal husbandry facilities, animal welfare organizations—may gain access to the approval documents through the approval authority. This may be done, on the one hand, to potentially obtain trade and business secrets, but on the other hand, possibly also to stigmatize a company, as has already happened in the past with regard to a genetic engineering facility.

On the question of how to protect yourself from this, the AGCT has a corresponding video turned.

However, the question remains whether the licensing authority will at least issue a warning to the operator before passing on the submitted data to third parties, or whether the authority can simply send the documents abroad without consultation.

This last warning could result in a necessary hearing of the operator. In the event of a decision that is burdensome for the operator, the authority must, in accordance with Section 9 (1) Sentence 3 of the UIG, hear the operator before making such a decision. This stipulates that the operator must be heard regarding the disclosure of information protected by Section 9 (1) Sentence 1 Nos. 1 to 3 of the UIG. In practice, however, it is complained that this right to be heard is often not recognized. Accordingly, operators are advised to mark (“black out”) sensitive data, namely personal data and trade and business secrets, as such when they are transmitted. The law even assumes that the licensing authorities must assume that personal data, trade and business secrets are affected if the operator has marked them as trade and business secrets (Section 9 (1) Sentence 4 of the UIG). Legislators have granted trade and business secrets, in particular, a high level of protection compared to claims to environmental information. In this respect, operators can invoke Articles 16 and 17 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (freedom of enterprise and property) or Articles 12 and 14 of the Basic Law (freedom of occupation and property).