Regulations on Confidential Information (Trade Secrets) of the Gaz Service Consulting Limited Liability Company

1. General Provisions

1.1.  This Regulation on Confidential Information (Trade Secrets) of the Gaz Service Consulting Limited Liability Company (hereinafter referred to as — developed in accordance with the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, Federal Law No. 98-FZ dated 07/29/2004 «On Commercial Secrets» and other federal laws and regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation to regulate relations related to the establishment, modification and termination of the commercial secret regime in relation to information constituting a secret of production (know-how) in the Gaz Service Consulting Limited Liability Company (hereinafter referred to as the Organization, Employer) as well as confidential information of the Organization’s counterparties.

1.2. This Regulation applies to all employees of the Organization who are familiar with this Regulation under signature as well as to third parties within the limits established by the legislation of the Russian Federation and this Regulation.

1.3. Compliance with this Provision is the responsibility of all employees who have access to information that constitutes a trade secret of the Organization.

2. Basic Definitions and Terms

2.1. Confidential information (information constituting a trade secret) — information of any nature (industrial, technical, economic, organizational and others), including the results of intellectual activity in the scientific and technical field as well as information on ways of carrying out professional activities that have actual or potential commercial value due to their unknown nature to third parties to whom third parties do not have free access on a legitimate basis and in respect of whom the owner of such information has introduced a trade secret regime.

2.2. Commercial secret — confidentiality regime of information that allows its owner, under existing or possible circumstances, to increase income, avoid unjustified expenses, maintain a position in the market of goods, works or services or receive other commercial benefits.

2.3. Holder of confidential information — a person who legally owns information constituting a trade secret, has restricted access to this information and has established a trade secret regime with respect to it.

2.4. Disclosure of confidential information — an action or omission as a result of which information constituting a trade secret in any possible form (oral, written or another form, including using technical means) becomes known to third parties without the consent of the owner of such information or contrary to an employment or civil law agreement.

2.5. Access to information constituting a trade secret — familiarization of certain persons with information constituting a trade secret, with the consent of its owner or on other legal grounds, provided that the confidentiality of this information is maintained.

3. List of Information That Constitutes Confidential Information of the Organization

3.1. The list of information constituting the commercial secret of the Organization is defined by this Regulation and may be amended or supplemented in accordance with the procedure established for amending this Regulation.

3.2. The confidential information of the Organization is:

3.2.1. Information on management issues, personnel, staffing, legal issues and regional policy issues of the Organization.

3.2.2. Information on the economic, financial and accounting activities of the Organization.

3.2.3. Information on commercial activities in the internal market of the Organization.

3.2.4. Information on the issues of the Organization’s foreign economic activity.

3.2.5. Information on economic and financial relations with the Organization’s counterparties, including the terms of cooperation with them, and including but not limited to the following data: the price of contracts, terms of service (work), discounts and bonuses provided, the volume of services provided (work performed), terms of commercial offers, etc.

3.2.6. Information on the procedure, methods and pricing system adopted by the Organization, including the pricing methodology. At the same time, data on the cost of services (works) of the Organization that is publicly available on the official Internet resource of the Organization does not relate to information that constitutes a trade secret of the Organization.

3.2.7. Information on conducting business negotiations with counterparties and information on the content of these negotiations, including materials prepared for negotiations or compiled during negotiations or after they end — based on the results of negotiations, including but not limited to presentations prepared in any way, commercial offers with prices for specific counterparties and correspondence with information about negotiations from corporate mail.

3.2.8. Information about the Organization’s counterparties, both stored on paper and constituting the Organization’s electronic customer database and a database containing information about all the Organization’s counterparties that the Organization’s employees have access to (in any format, including electronic form).

3.2.9. Information contained in documents received from contractors or partners of the Organization, which became known to employees of the Organization in the process of cooperation with these persons (including contracts, agreements and other documents indicating the confidentiality of this information as well as in any other documents of contractors with whom information confidentiality agreements have been concluded).

3.2.10. Information about the internal structure of the Organization, the organization of work, the functions of the structural divisions of the Organization and the organizational relationships between them, with the exception of publicly available information, which other persons may become aware of from open sources (Internet sites, mass media, official interviews of employees of the Organization, etc.).

3.2.11. Information on the composition and condition of the Organization’s computer and software, the software used, the procedure and conditions for accessing information stored in the memory of the Organization’s computer equipment and on other types of media, including logins, passwords, codes and other ways to access information.

3.2.12. Information about the Organization’s office management and document management system, with the exception of publicly available information, including data on the procedure for receiving correspondence, the procedure for contacting the Company with questions, etc.

3.2.13. Information received by mail or by e-mail to the e-mail address of the Organization and to the e-mail addresses of employees of the Organization that have the stamp «Trade secret».

3.2.14. Any information about the technological processes that the Organization uses in its activities.

3.3. The commercial secret regime cannot be established in relation to the information listed in Article 5 of Federal Law No. 98-FZ dated 07/29/2004 «On Commercial Secrets».

3.4. If it is necessary to classify additional types of information as information constituting a commercial secret of the Organization, the Director General of the Organization has the right to issue an order to give the information the status of information constituting a commercial secret, with mandatory familiarization with such an order by employees who have access to the specified information and subsequent inclusion of the specified information in the list established by this Regulation. Such changes are made by supplementing this Provision and approving it in the same manner as the Provision itself.

4. Protection of Confidential Information. Access to Confidential Information

4.1. Employees of the Organization who need such information for the proper performance of their official duties have access to information constituting a trade secret.

4.2. Persons who have received access to information that constitutes a commercial secret of the Organization in accordance with the established procedure are obliged not to provide or disclose such information in any possible form (oral, written or another form, including using technical means) without the consent of the owner of such information or contrary to an employment or civil law agreement.

4.3. In order to protect the confidentiality of information, the Employer must:

4.3.1. Acquaint an employee, whose access to information constituting a trade secret is necessary for them to perform their work duties, with a list of information constituting a trade secret, the owners of which are the Employer and their contractors, by familiarizing themselves with this Regulation under signature.

4.3.2. Acquaint the employee with the commercial secret regime established by the Employer and with the measures of responsibility for its violation, by familiarizing themselves with this Provision under signature.

4.3.3. Create the necessary conditions for the employee to comply with the trade secret regime established by the Employer.

4.4. In order to protect the confidentiality of the Organization’s information, the employee is obliged to:

4.4.1. Comply with the trade secret regime established by the Employer.

4.4.2. Not to disclose confidential information held by the Employer and their contractors and without their consent not to use this information for personal purposes during the entire period of the trade secret regime, including after the termination of the employment contract.

4.4.3. Transfer to the Employer, upon expiry or termination of the employment contract, the material media available to the employee containing information constituting a trade secret, destroy such information or delete it from these material media under the supervision of the Employer.

4.4.4. Immediately inform their immediate supervisor or the person replacing them about the loss or shortage of documents containing classified information, keys to safes (vaults), seals, certificates, passes, etc.

4.5. Employees of the Organization are prohibited to:

4.5.1. Take out documents containing information classified as a trade secret of the Organization outside the territory where the Organization is located, on paper, machine-readable and other media, except in cases where it is necessary for employees to perform their work duties. The ban also applies to cases when an employee does not have time to do their work during the working day and plans to continue doing it at home.

4.5.2. Send information containing data classified as a trade secret of the Organization in electronic form from their corporate e-mail to personal mailboxes located on free Internet servers.

4.5.3. Otherwise copy information containing data classified as a trade secret of the Organization (take photos of the monitor and send them to employees of the Company or other persons using various messengers, copy it to removable media, etc.).

4.6. When working with information constituting a trade secret, employees of the Organization must comply with measures that prevent and restrict access to this information by persons who are not authorized to receive it. The production of documents containing information constituting a trade secret of an Organization is allowed in an amount necessary and sufficient for the purposes for which they are produced, taking into account the requirements of the office management and document management procedure adopted in the Organization. A similar rule applies to electronic copies of documents.

4.7. A violation of the above rules is considered committed when the data constituting confidential information has become known to persons who do not have access to it, issued in accordance with the established procedure.

4.8. Access to information containing the commercial secret of the Organization by other persons is possible if it is necessary for the implementation of the tasks facing the Organization or in cases established by the legislation of the Russian Federation. Obtaining such access is possible only with the written permission of the Director General of the Organization and provided that such persons undertake a written obligation not to disclose information constituting a trade secret of the Organization. In this case, access to documents containing trade secrets is provided only to the information and only to the extent necessary in each specific case.

4.9. The organization has the right to demand compensation for losses caused to it by the disclosure of information constituting a trade secret from a person who has gained access to this information in connection with the performance of labor duties but has terminated employment relations with the employer if this information is disclosed within the period established in accordance with subparagraph 4.4.2. of paragraph 4.14. of this Regulation.

4.10. Illegal disclosure of a trade secret entails disciplinary (for employees of the Organization), civil, administrative or criminal liability for those who have committed it in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation.

4.11. Measures to protect the confidentiality of information taken by the Director General of the Organization should include:

4.1.11. Determination of the list of information constituting a trade secret.

4.2.11. Restriction of access to information constituting a trade secret by establishing the procedure for handling this information and monitoring compliance with this procedure.

4.3.11. Accounting of persons who have received access to information constituting a trade secret and (or) persons to whom such information has been provided or transferred.

4.4.11. Regulation of relations on the use of information constituting a trade secret by employees on the basis of employment contracts and contractors on the basis of civil law contracts.

4.5.11. Affixing to material media containing information constituting a commercial secret or including in the details of documents containing such information the stamp «Commercial secret» indicating the owner of such information (for legal entities — their full name and location).

5. Procedure for Access to Confidential Information

5.1. In all matters of the Organization’s activities, the Director General of the Organization has access to confidential information.

5.2. In matters within their competence, the following persons have access to confidential information of the Organization:

5.2.1. General Director of the Organization.

5.2.2. Deputy General Directors of the Organization or persons temporarily acting as General Director during the latter’s absence from the workplace (vacation, illness, etc.).

5.2.3. Employees whose employment contract contains an appropriate condition for non-disclosure of confidential information.

5.2.4. Other persons who have received access to confidential information of the Organization in accordance with this Regulation.

5.3. Admission is issued on the basis of an employee’s application indicating the reason for receiving certain information as well as the need to copy the specified information using technical means.

5.4. The application is considered by the persons specified in clauses 5.2.1. and 5.2.2. of clause 5.2. of these Regulations within 2 (two) business days. Based on the results of consideration of the application, a decision is made on admission or refusal of admission of the employee to the information requested by them.

5.5. The decision on admission or refusal of admission to confidential information is made as follows: a visa is affixed and (or) an order is issued.

5.6. On a document or other medium containing confidential information, the stamp «Commercial secret» is affixed with the date, surname and signature of the person who put the stamp.

5.7. Electronic messages sent by e-mail containing information constituting a trade secret must include the following text: «This message and all appendices to it are strictly confidential and are intended exclusively for use by the recipient (addressee) to whom they are addressed. The use of the information contained in this communication is allowed in compliance with the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation and trade secret agreements. If this message is received as a result of actions committed accidentally or by mistake, the confidentiality of this information must be respected. It is forbidden to use this information for any purpose.»

5.8. All documents classified as «Commercial secret» are recorded in the register of documents containing information constituting a trade secret. The person responsible for maintaining the document log is the person appointed by the order of the Director General of the Organization. The document log records the number of copies of the document carriers, the surname, first name, patronymic and position of the employee responsible for ensuring the safety of these documents.

5.9. The organization, at the reasoned request of a public authority, other state body or local government body, provides them with information constituting confidential information free of charge. A reasoned request must be signed by an authorized official and contain an indication of the purpose and legal basis for requesting information constituting a trade secret and the deadline for providing this information unless otherwise established by the current legislation of the Russian Federation.

6. Procedure for Dealing with Confidential Information

6.1. Work with confidential information is carried out in the premises at the address of the Organization’s location.

6.2. The issuance and return of confidential information carriers are recorded in the accounting journal of documents containing information constituting a trade secret.

6.3. Information on copying confidential information is entered in the accounting journal of documents containing information constituting a trade secret.

7. Storage of Confidential Information and Control Over the Procedure for Admission and Work with It

7.1. Confidential information is stored in the premises at the address of the Organization’s location.

7.2. The person responsible for storing and issuing confidential information carriers is appointed by the order of the Director General of the Organization and is guided by the job description.

7.3. Control over the procedure for admission and work with confidential information is carried out by the Director General of the Organization or a person appointed by them, on the basis of an order.

7.4. When exercising control, the person specified in clause 7.3 of these Regulations checks:

7.4.1. Maintaining accounting logs when working with confidential information.

7.4.2. The condition of the room intended for working with confidential information.

7.4.3. Availability of confidential information carriers.

7.5. Inspections are carried out on the basis of the order of the Director General of the Organization.

8. Responsibility for Disclosure of Confidential Information

8.1. Persons who have disclosed confidential information as well as persons who have violated the procedure for access, work and storage of confidential information established by this Regulation shall bear disciplinary, civil, administrative or criminal liability in accordance with the current legislation of the Russian Federation.

8.2. An employee who, in connection with the performance of their work duties, has access to information constituting a trade secret, the owners of which are the Employer and their contractors, in case of intentional or careless disclosure of this information in the absence of corpus delicti in the actions of such an employee, shall be subject to disciplinary liability in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation.

9. Final Provisions

9.1. This Regulation comes into force from the moment of its approval by the Director General of the Organization.

9.2. Amendments and additions to this Regulation may be made on the basis of an order from the Director General of the Organization.

9.3. This Regulation has been developed in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation. In the event of a change in the norms of the legislation of the Russian Federation on the procedure for using information constituting a trade secret, this Provision must be brought into line with current legislation.