Fighting industrial and economic espionage through criminal law: lessons to be learned from Austria and Switzerland

Abstract

Empirical figures show that, especially in recent years, the frequency of industrial and economic espionage, and consequently its dangers and negative impact, has increased greatly worldwide. This has impacted not only the individual victims of the infringement of trade secrets, but also the national and global economies at large. This espionage cannot be tackled effectively through uncoordinated, stand-alone-actions of individual countries anymore. Instead, the global community must take a more holistic view and find universally acceptable strategies and standards, looking for best practices through the lens of comparative law. The paper compares and contrasts the legal approaches to the criminalisation of economic and industrial espionage in Switzerland and Austria. It aims to show the similarities and differences and to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each jurisdiction. The results are meant to enrich and to contribute to the discussions regarding efficient and commonly acceptable solutions to fighting economic and industrial espionage.