13. Safeguarding of Business and Trade Secrets
(1) The Platform Operator and the User Entity agree to preserve the strict secrecy of the of confidential property defined below; they covenant not to reveal or disclose such property to third parties, to use it solely for the contractually contemplated purposes, and to take all appropriate action in accordance with the terms of this User Agreement to preserve the secrecy of the confidential property and prevent any disclosure thereof.
(2) The term "confidential property" includes without limitation all documents, including this B2B User Agreement, all data, information, and all knowledge that the Platform Operator or the User Entity contributes, or of which they become mutually aware, in connection with this B2B User Agreement or its performance. The term also
includes such data, information, and knowledge that are made available or exchanged in connection with the access to or the use of an application or the non-public area of VW Group Supply.com. Confidential property furthermore includes any document, data, information, knowledge, or other item contributed by the Platform Operator or a User Entity that is expressly designated as such or is recognized as such.
(3) Confidential property shall be held in a secure manner. After conclusion of the collaboration, written information and confidential property, such as materials provided or produced, shall be mutually returned or handed over in its entirety or, if so agreed, destroyed.
(4) The obligation under subsection 1 does not apply to confidential property as to which the disclosing party is able to prove (i) that, at the time of its communication by the party that provided it, it was either (a) a matter of common knowledge, i.e. already published or generally accessible, or (b) already known to the disclosing party, or (ii) that, subsequent to its communication by the party that provided it, it became a matter of common knowledge without fault on the part of the disclosing party, or (iii) that, subsequent to its communication,it was made available to the disclosing party by a third party in a lawful manner without restrictions regarding the confidentiality or use thereof.
(5) Unless otherwise expressly stated in writing, the enterprises affiliated with the User Entities within the meaning of § 15 AktG (German Stock Corporation Law) are also considered to be third parties for purposes of this section 13.
(6) In fulfilling the above confidentiality obligations, the User Entity shall impose corresponding written obligations on its employees, per formance assistants (§ 278 German Civil Code), and vicarious agents (§ 831 German Civil Code) that are involved in performing this B2B User Agreement or using VW Group Supply.com, or are able to obtain access to confidential property.
(7) The above confidentiality obligations terminate at the end of the fifth (5th) year following the termination of this B2B User Agreement.