Employee confidentiality agreement (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 confidentiality agreement signed by an employer and an employee in mainland France or an overseas department other than Mayotte, on hiring or during the contract: it defines confidential information, forbids disclosing or using it outside work, during the contract and for a chosen period after it ends, and provides for documents to be returned. It also protects trade secrets (articles L. 151-1 et seq. of the French Commercial Code). It contains no non-compete clause and preserves the rights of whistleblowers and staff representatives. Signed in two originals. In French.
- Made for use in France
- Last updated October 13, 2026
When to use this document
- You are hiring someone in France who will see your client lists, prices or know-how and want it kept confidential.
- An employee already in post is moving to a role with access to sensitive information about your business.
- You want staff to hand back documents and keep your business secrets even after they leave.
- You need an employee confidentiality agreement without adding a non-compete clause.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Employer
- Employer's registered address
- Employer's SIRET number
- Person signing for the employer
- Employee
- Employee's address
- Position
- Scope of confidentiality
- How long the duty lasts after the employment ends (years)
- Additional terms
- 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
- Must an employee confidentiality agreement in France include payment?
- No. A confidentiality obligation is different from a non-compete clause: it forbids disclosing or using information, without stopping the employee from working elsewhere. Only a non-compete needs, to be valid, financial compensation, limits in time and place and a legitimate interest of the company. This agreement contains none; it must not be worded so as to stop the employee from practising their trade in practice.
- What can a French confidentiality agreement not forbid an employee to do?
- It cannot stop the employee from using the experience and general knowledge gained in their trade, from reporting or disclosing information under the conditions that protect whistleblowers (law no. 2016-1691 of 9 December 2016), from informing staff representatives in the exercise of their duties, or from disclosing what the law or an authority requires (articles L. 151-7 to L. 151-9 of the Commercial Code). The agreement states these limits.
- What does an employee in France risk by breaching a confidentiality agreement?
- During the contract, a disciplinary sanction in proportion to the breach, up to dismissal; the employee's financial liability to the employer generally requires gross misconduct (faute lourde). After the contract ends, a wrongful disclosure can give rise to civil liability, and infringing a trade secret is sanctioned under articles L. 152-1 et seq. of the Commercial Code. The agreement sets no fixed penalty.
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
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