Trade secrets are information that the company keeps secret. In order to be considered a trade secret, the information must refer to business or operating conditions which, if disclosed, would cause harm to the company. 

The information can be documented, for example in the form of drawings or models, or simply be such that only a few people in the company know. It is important to stipulate in agreements that the persons who have knowledge of the trade secrets do not take the information with them, if they quit or change jobs, regardless of whether they have access to the trade secrets in oral or written form.

Retaining information or knowledge as a trade secret can in some cases be an alternative to applying for a patent. Patents certainly give exclusive rights to your invention for 20 years, but a patent also means that the invention is published. As a trade secret, the information / knowledge can stay within the company, but you risk that someone else comes up with the same or a similar solution as you do not have the exclusive right to it. Examples of well-kept trade secrets are the recipes at Tabasco and the essence needed to make certain perfumes.

Trade secret is defined in the "Act on the Protection of Trade Secrets" as "information about the business or operating relationship in a trader's business which the trader keeps secret and whose disclosure is likely to cause him harm in terms of competition". The protection is structured so that anyone who unauthorisedly obtains access to or discloses a trade secret can be prohibited by a fine from disclosing or exploiting it, or alternatively sentenced to a fine or imprisonment.