Brake on Trade Secret Leakage
The Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy determined on April 17 that some parts of Samsung Electronics’ work environment reports related to its semiconductor manufacturing facilities constitute South Korea’s national key technology. That day, the Central Administrative Appeals Commission (CAAC) of the Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission accepted Samsung Electronics’ request for postponing any disclosure of the reports.
Under the circumstances, the Ministry of Employment & Labor, which attempted to disclose the entire reports on April 19 and 20, decided to postpone the disclosure until the final decision of the CAAC. The Ministry of Employment & Labor said it respects the Trade, Industry & Energy Ministry’s decision.
“Some parts of the reports related to Samsung Electronics’ Hwaseong, Pyeongtaek, Giheung and Onyang Plants and the period of 2009 to 2017 have to do with different types of national key technology such as 30-nm DRAM process technology and below, NAND flash, application processor and assembly,” the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy said on April 17, adding, “Those can be inferred from the process names and layouts, the names of chemicals, and so on in the reports.” The ministry also explained that the reports pertaining to 2007 and 2008 do not constitute any key technology because the reports are related to 30 nm and above.
Samsung Electronics is expected to inform the court of the Trade, Industry & Energy Ministry’s decision with administrative litigation underway between the Ministry of Employment & Labor and Samsung Electronics, which is in fear of trade secret leakage.
The CAAC, in the meantime, explained that it accepted Samsung Electronics’ request because procedure on the merits can be affected if any information is disclosed in advance. The CAAC is planning to terminate the procedure in the near future.