The impulse to harmonize trade secret protection at the EU level falls within a broader and more comprehensive strategy aimed at ensuring that the Single Market for intellectual property functions smoothly. In such a perspective, the recent Proposal for a Directive on trade secrecy, complemented by the compromise draft of the Council Presidency, is a welcome one in so far as it invokes the unfair competition paradigm as the EC answer to balancing the request to secure confidential information and trade secrets with the need to leave third parties free to develop and use the same information obtained by legitimate means. As far as the advisable level of uniform protection is concerned, a final position has not been reached, yet. While the Commission has not clearly identified the harmonization strategy it will endorse, a minimum standard requirement, already applied at the international level, has proven to be inadequate to create a level playing field where equivalent rules, obligations and guarantees apply. Such regulatory failure, together with the request to encourage inter- and intra-sector cooperation, as well as international spin-off/start-up activities, suggests fostering a homogenous level of trade secret protection with more determination. In conclusion, the time seems ripe to deviate from the minimum harmonization technique embraced by the Council Presidency and to replace the current patchy system with a fully harmonized environment, as a sound solution to satisfactorily contribute to the Innovation Union policy.