Confidentiality agreement means that both parties agree that written or oral information disclosed by one party to the other party shall not be disclosed to any third party. If a party who has the obligation of confidentiality violates the agreement and leaks confidential information to a third party, it will bear civil liability or even criminal liability.
Duration of confidentiality agreement:
Where the confidentiality agreement generally has a confidentiality period, the duration of the confidentiality agreement shall be determined by both parties through consultation. If there is no agreement, both parties may supplement the agreement. When signing a confidentiality agreement, both parties may stipulate the confidentiality clause in the Labor Contract Law or conclude a special confidentiality agreement. But no matter which way is adopted, it should be in legal written form, and the terms should be clear and unambiguous.
Although the law stipulates that the employee's confidentiality obligation is not exempted from the dissolution or termination of the labor contract, it is better to agree on the start and end time of the confidentiality obligation to avoid unnecessary disputes because the business secret has expired, been made public or been destroyed.
The confidentiality agreement is valid for:
For employees who know the business secrets of enterprises, it is a legal obligation to keep secrets, whether during their employment or after leaving their jobs. If the employee discloses or uses it without authorization after leaving the company, it will constitute infringement, which will seriously constitute the crime of infringing trade secrets.
For general confidential information, employees generally have no obligation to keep confidential after leaving the company. Many enterprises usually stipulate that the confidentiality period during their employment and after leaving is 2 to 3 years. Such an agreement will cause misunderstanding to employees, that is, they can disclose or use trade secrets two to three years after leaving their jobs. Such an agreement is not desirable. Therefore, enterprises should stipulate that the confidentiality period of trade secrets should be during the term of office and indefinitely after leaving the company; For general confidential information, it is advisable to stipulate a confidentiality period of 2 or 3 years.
Business secret is the core content of an enterprise, which is related to its competitiveness and vital to its development, and some even directly affect its survival. Therefore, it is very necessary for employees exposed to business secrets to sign confidentiality agreements. The confidentiality agreement protects the business secrets of the employer, so the employer should only sign confidentiality agreements with employees who have contact with, understand and master the business secrets, not ordinary employees or employees, nor all employees.