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Mutual non-disclosure agreement, in French (Switzerland)
Switzerland · in French
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This document is in French
The PDF you download is in French — that is the language it has to be filed in, so it is not translated. Everything on this page is here to tell you what it says.
Made for use in Switzerland
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For two businesses or self-employed people in French-speaking Switzerland who exchange confidential information before working together, investing or buying, in French: the purpose, what is and is not confidential, use limited to the purpose, sharing only with bound staff and advisers, no reverse engineering, disclosure required by law, return and deletion, duration and an optional contractual penalty (Art. 160 ff. CO). Swiss law, a place of jurisdiction if you choose one. Signed by both parties.
- Made for use in Switzerland
- Last updated November 4, 2026
Published byDocMuse
When to use this document
- Your company in French-speaking Switzerland is starting talks with a partner and wants a confidentiality agreement.
- You are going to show a prototype or software to another business and want to protect it.
- Both sides will exchange customer data and prices during the negotiations.
- You need a mutual NDA in French under Swiss law.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- First party
- First party's address
- First party's UID (company number) (optional)
- First party's representative
- Second party
- Second party's address
- Second party's UID (company number) (optional)
- Second party's representative
- Purpose
- Scope of confidentiality
- Confidentiality period after talks end
- Contractual penalty per breach, in CHF (leave empty for none)
- Agreed place of jurisdiction (optional)
- City
- Date
Common questions
- Does a confidentiality agreement need a special form to be valid in French-speaking Switzerland?
- No: no form is prescribed (Art. 11 para. 1 CO). Signed by both parties, the agreement is easy to prove, though, and a choice of court must be made in writing or by another means allowing proof by text (Art. 17 para. 2 CPC). For a company, the persons entered in the commercial register with power to represent it sign, by hand or with a qualified electronic signature.
- How should the contractual penalty in a Swiss-law NDA be set?
- Freely (Art. 163 para. 1 CO), but the court reduces an excessive penalty (Art. 163 para. 3 CO), though with restraint, e.g. where it is grossly out of proportion to the creditor's interest; the debtor must show the grounds (BGE 133 III 201). It is due even without damage (Art. 161 para. 1 CO), and the injured party can claim more if it proves fault (Art. 161 para. 2 CO). Since, without agreement, the creditor could demand only performance or the penalty (Art. 160 CO), the agreement provides that confidentiality remains owed after payment. An amount in proportion to the information's value stands up better than a very high figure; with no amount, there is no penalty.
- Without an NDA, what do Swiss unfair-competition and criminal law already protect?
- Business and manufacturing secrets: anyone who exploits or passes on such a secret obtained unlawfully acts unfairly (Art. 6 of the Unfair Competition Act), and anyone who reveals a secret they were bound by law or contract to keep commits an offence (Art. 162 of the Criminal Code); employees owe discretion (Art. 321a para. 4 CO). These rules do not say what is confidential between you or for how long: the agreement sets that, and the consequences of a breach.
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
DocMuse sells documents, not legal advice. Acceptance always depends on the recipient's rules and your local law.
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