What Information Can Be a Trade Secret in China?

Technical and business information can be a secret; public or trivial information cannot.

The Anti-Unfair Competition Law covers both technical information (drawings, source, process parameters, formulae, algorithms) and business information (deep customer data, cost, undisclosed pricing, bidding strategy, supply sources). Each item must still pass the three limbs: not known to the public, commercial value, corresponding measures. A published patent specification, a product that is easy to reverse-engineer, a well-known company name, or a lunch roster is not a secret. This page is the subject-matter catalogue.

The classification screen

4 questions before you choose the route.

This page identifies the right question and evidence. It does not determine the legal outcome on a reader’s facts.

Is it technical, business, or both?

Say which bucket before you plead ‘all company information’.

Type

Is it actually non-public?

Patent, manual, public website and easy reverse engineering fail this.

Public

Does this item have standalone value?

A unique process yes; a generic org chart no.

Value

Was this item specifically protected?

Measures should match the item, not only a global footer.

Measures

Working rule: The Anti-Unfair Competition Law covers both technical information (drawings, source, process parameters, formulae, algorithms) and business information (deep customer data, cost, undisclosed pricing, bidding strategy, supply sources).

What changes the answer

The signal ledger.

These facts move the question beyond a label and into a product, money-flow and control analysis.

Signal

Ask the operating question

Why it changes the route

Kitchen-sink list

Are you claiming every email as a secret?

Over-claiming sinks the real items.

Already patented

Is the same process in a published CNIPA specification?

That disclosure is public.

Industry know-how

Would a skilled worker already know it?

Common skill is not a secret.

Prepare before you escalate

Bring a compact evidence docket—not a pitch deck.

Give a compliance team or counsel the operating facts that reveal the perimeter.

01Itemised secret listEach technical or business item claimed.

02Public-domain checkPatents, papers, manuals, public sites.

03Value noteWhy this item gives an edge.

04Item-level measuresWho could see this item, not the whole drive.

Common confusions

Questions people ask before they build.

Short answers for orientation. The right result can change with the service model and current rules.

Can negative information (failed tests) be a secret?

Yes if it has value because competitors would save cost by knowing it, and it was kept secret with measures.

Where is the legal test itself?

On /china-trade-secrets-protection-legal-framework. This page only answers what kinds of information can qualify.

Primary authorities

Reviewed sources support orientation, not a fact-specific assessment.

National laws database (NPC)

Anti-Unfair Competition Law (gov.cn)

Supreme People’s Court

SAMR