Mutual non-disclosure agreement between businesses (NDA) (France)
Published byDocMuse
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.
A two-way confidentiality agreement between two businesses or professionals in France, before discussing a project, a partnership or a sale: what counts as confidential and the exceptions, use limited to the project, who may receive the information, how long the duty lasts after talks end, return or destruction, no licence and no duty to conclude, an optional penalty the court can moderate (article 1231-5 of the French Civil Code), French law. Signed in two originals. For an employee, use the agreement made for employment. In French.
- Made for use in France
- Last updated October 13, 2026
When to use this document
- Your company is about to discuss a joint project with another business in France and both sides will share sensitive information.
- You are talking to a possible partner or buyer and want each side to keep the other’s information secret.
- Before a meeting where you will show your figures or plans, you want the other company to commit to confidentiality.
- You need a mutual NDA, a two-way confidentiality agreement between two businesses.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Party A (company or person name)
- Party A's registered office or address
- Party A's legal form, RCS and SIREN (for a business)
- Party A's representative (or “in person”)
- Party B (company or person name)
- Party B's registered office or address
- Party B's legal form, RCS and SIREN (for a business)
- Party B's representative (or “in person”)
- Permitted purpose
- Scope of confidentiality
- Confidentiality period after talks end
- Penalty per breach, in euros (optional)
- City
- Date
Preview
This document is produced for you. Your answers are typed into it and the finished PDF is yours to keep.
Common questions
- Is a confidentiality agreement useful when French law already protects trade secrets?
- Yes. The Civil Code forbids using or disclosing without permission confidential information obtained during negotiations (article 1112-2), and the Commercial Code protects trade secrets (articles L. 151-1 ff.), but each requires proof of what was confidential. The agreement defines it in advance, sets the permitted use, the duration and the return, and makes a breach easier to prove.
- Should a confidentiality agreement include a penalty?
- It is not required: without a penalty, the injured party must prove its loss. A fixed penalty spares the need to quantify the loss, but the court can reduce it if it is manifestly excessive, or raise it if derisory (article 1231-5 of the French Civil Code). Leave the box empty if you do not want one; the paragraph then disappears from the filled document.
- Does this agreement suit an employee, or a case where only one side discloses?
- It is mutual: each of the two parties may disclose and receive information. If only one side shares information, it still works; the other simply has nothing to protect. For an employee, the duty of confidentiality is part of the employment relationship and follows the Labour Code: use the confidentiality agreement made for employees instead.
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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