Labour Act, Bangladesh (Trade Secrets and Confidential Information)

Labour Act, Section 304 (Trade Secrets and Confidential Information)

Section 304 of the Labour Act prohibits any person from disclosing, in contravention of any provision of the Labour Act, any secret information relating to any construction or business that came to their knowledge during discharge of their official duties or any result of an examination under the Labour Act. Further, section 341 of the Labour Act prohibits any person from disclosing any information relating to any manufacturing or commercial secret that might have come to their knowledge in the course of discharging their duties under the Labour Act or any rules, regulations or schemes, either during or after leaving their service. However, such prohibition does not apply where:

• such disclosure is in connection with the administration of the Labour Act;
• the employer gave prior written consent to such disclosure; or
• such disclosure is for the purposes of any legal proceeding.

The above provisions are aimed at officials discharging their duties under the Labour Act. Apart from these, there is no specific legislation aimed at employees for the purpose of protecting trade secrets and other confidential business information of the employer.