A confidentiality agreement in business is a contract in which one or more parties promise not to disclose specified information and not to use it outside an agreed purpose. Under Dutch law you do not always need one, because the Trade Secrets Act (Wet bescherming bedrijfsgeheimen) has protected genuine trade secrets since 23 October 2018 even where nothing was signed; but without a contract, other sensitive information is barely protected and proving a loss after a leak is hard.
The contract earns its place by answering what the statute leaves open: what exactly is confidential, for how long, who may see it and what a breach costs. For the document itself, clause by clause, see our vollständiger Leitfaden zur Geheimhaltungsvereinbarung.
Woher stammen die Vertraulichkeitsverpflichtungen in einer niederländischen Geschäftsbeziehung?
A duty of secrecy can follow from a contract, from the Trade Secrets Act, from reasonableness and fairness, or from an employment relationship. These four sources operate independently, and the one you rely on determines what you have to prove.
A contract, or a confidentiality clause in a wider contract, binds the parties on its own terms. You only have to show that the information falls within the agreed definition and that the other party disclosed or used it. The Trade Secrets Act gives the holder of a trade secret remedies against anyone who acquires, uses or discloses it unlawfully, including a party who never signed anything.
Reasonableness and fairness under Articles 6:2 and 6:248 of the Dutch Civil Code (Burgerlijk Wetboek, BW) also govern negotiating parties and contracts that are silent on secrecy. Outside any relationship, a party who deliberately exploits another business’s confidential information can be liable in tort under Article 6:162 BW.
An employee must behave as a good employee under Article 7:611 BW, which includes discretion about the employer’s affairs. Under Article 7:678 BW, disclosing business particulars that the employee was obliged to keep secret is an urgent cause for summary dismissal (ontslag op staande voet).
What does the Trade Secrets Act protect without a contract?
The Act protects information that is secret, commercially valuable because it is secret, and subject to reasonable measures to keep it secret. The three conditions, taken from Directive (EU) 2016/943, are cumulative: fail one and the statutory route closes.
In practice the third condition decides cases. Access restrictions, a documented need-to-know policy, marked documents, data room logs and signed confidentiality agreements turn a claim of secrecy into a provable fact. A pricing model circulated as an unrestricted spreadsheet will be hard to present to a court as a protected secret.
Acquisition, use or disclosure is unlawful if it involves unauthorised access or copying, conduct contrary to honest commercial practices, or a breach of a confidentiality obligation. A third party who knew or ought to have known that the secret came from such a breach is also liable, which allows a claim against a new employer as well as the departing employee.
The Act also leaves room. Independent discovery and reverse engineering of a lawfully obtained product are lawful, unless a contract validly restricts reverse engineering. A court must reject a claim where disclosure served freedom of expression, exposed wrongdoing in the public interest or was part of employee representation, and no contract can exclude those defences.
Welchen zusätzlichen Schutz bietet eine Vertraulichkeitsvereinbarung über die gesetzlichen Bestimmungen hinaus?
A contract covers sensitive information that is not a trade secret, and it sets purpose limits, onward-disclosure rules, return duties and the choice of law and court. A quoted tender price, the identity of a prospective buyer or the existence of negotiations may not qualify as trade secrets, yet each can do damage in the wrong hands.
The agreement limits use to the agreed purpose, names the advisers, group companies and subcontractors who may receive the information, fixes when materials must be returned or destroyed, and settles which law applies and which court or arbitral tribunal decides. Signing and enforcing such agreements is also evidence of the reasonable measures that the Trade Secrets Act requires.
Watch later contracts. A share purchase, services or shareholders agreement often has its own confidentiality clause and an entire agreement clause, which may replace the earlier agreement on less favourable terms unless you say otherwise. Our overview of the Arten von Handelsverträgen nach niederländischem Recht erklärt, wie diese Dokumente zusammenpassen.
Wie schützt man Informationen während Verhandlungen und Due-Diligence-Prüfungen?
Sign before the first substantive meeting and disclose in stages. The duty of reasonableness and fairness between negotiating parties is open-textured and hard to enforce quickly, and by the time a deal looks real the information has usually been shared.
In an acquisition or investment round the buyer is usually active in the same market. Disclose an anonymised profile first, then aggregated financial information, and only after a letter of intent the customer contracts, margins and personnel data. A data room with individual logins records who looked at what. See our article on Due-Diligence-Prüfungen bei Fusionen und Übernahmen in den Niederlanden.
Add a non-solicitation undertaking for your staff and customers, because confidentiality alone does not stop the other side from approaching your commercial director. Make the duty survive the end of the talks; the rules on Abbruch der Verhandlungen in den Niederlanden Sich mit der anderen Hälfte des Problems auseinandersetzen.
Wie kann man Informationen in der Lieferkette schützen?
Require your counterparty to impose the same obligations on its subcontractors and to remain liable for them as for its own conduct. Otherwise you would have to sue a subcontractor without a contract, on the harder statutory footing.
Name the countries or entities to which information may be transferred. And note that a confidentiality agreement is not a data processing agreement (verwerkersovereenkomst): where the other party processes personal data on your instructions, Article 28 GDPR requires a separate agreement, and the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens) supervises compliance. Our article on the Datenverarbeitungsvereinbarung in den Niederlanden sets out what it must contain.
Wie schützen Sie vertrauliche Informationen vor Ihren eigenen Mitarbeitern?
A confidentiality clause binds an employee during and after employment, but it does not keep them away from a competitor. Unlike a non-compete clause, it needs no special formalities to be valid.
Knowledge absorbed as ordinary professional skill belongs to the employee; concrete, identifiable information belongs to the employer. To keep someone out of the market you need a non-compete clause (concurrentiebeding) or non-solicitation clause (relatiebeding) under Article 7:653 BW: in writing and, in a fixed-term contract, with a written statement of the compelling business interest. See our article on Wettbewerbsverbotsklauseln nach niederländischem Arbeitsrecht.
A penalty in an employment contract must meet Article 7:650 BW: in writing, specifying the rules whose breach is penalised and the amount, and the penalty may not benefit the employer directly or indirectly. For employees earning more than the statutory minimum wage, parties may depart from part of this in writing. For the same breach the employer can claim either the penalty or damages, not both.
On the last working day, recover devices, revoke access and preserve mailbox and file-transfer logs before closing accounts. Where an employee forwards documents to a private address shortly before resigning, those logs are usually the whole case.
Wie geht ein niederländisches Gericht mit einer Strafklausel um?
The court applies the clause, but under Article 6:94 BW it may reduce the penalty if fairness manifestly requires it. A penalty clause (boetebeding) spares you from proving the financial loss of a leak, which is often very hard.
Under Article 6:92 BW the penalty replaces statutory damages, so the agreement must say expressly if you also want to claim your actual loss. Under Article 6:93 BW the penalty is due only after a notice of default where a damages claim would require one, unless the clause provides otherwise. The Supreme Court (Hoge Raad) expects courts to use the power to reduce with restraint.
A tiered clause works better than one lump sum: a fixed amount per breach, a daily amount for a continuing breach, an overall cap, and an express reservation of further damages and an injunction. A single large sum that treats a misdirected email like the theft of a customer database invites reduction.
Was sollten Sie tun, wenn vertrauliche Informationen durchsickern?
Secure the evidence, send a written notice, and go to the preliminary relief judge (voorzieningenrechter) in summary proceedings (kort geding) if the breach continues. Speed and evidence decide these cases.
First secure access logs, download histories, email traffic and the data room audit trail, lawfully and before confronting anyone. Then send a notice with the obligation, the facts, a demand to cease and return the material, and a deadline; it also establishes the default that Article 6:93 BW may require.
The judge can order the other party to stop using the information, hand over or destroy copies and identify recipients, and can keep the secret out of the public part of the proceedings. Where evidence may disappear, an evidentiary seizure (bewijsbeslag) can be requested. On the merits the court can award damages, including a reasonable licence fee, and order publication of the judgment. Intentional disclosure by someone bound to secrecy can also be a criminal offence under Article 273 of the Dutch Criminal Code (Wetboek van Strafrecht).
Welche Fehler kosten Unternehmen ihren Schutz?
Signing too late, a vague definition, an ill-chosen term and a contract nobody enforces. An agreement signed after the information was shared does not restore your position.
A definition of “all information disclosed” gives a court nothing to work with; a list of only technical drawings leaves commercial information unprotected. Use categories with concrete examples and a confirmation procedure for oral disclosures.
Dutch law sets no maximum term; two to five years is a convention. Match the term to the commercial life of the information. A trade secret stays protected under the Act for as long as it remains secret. Obligations that nobody monitors or enforces also undermine your argument that you took reasonable measures; see our article on Schutz von Geschäftsgeheimnissen.
What should you check as the disclosing party?
- That the agreement is signed before the first substantive meeting or data room access.
- That the definition lists categories of information with concrete examples.
- That onward disclosure to advisers and subcontractors requires equally strict terms, with your counterparty liable for them.
- That the penalty clause is tiered, payable without notice of default and reserves further damages under Article 6:92 BW.
- That a separate data processing agreement under Article 28 GDPR is in place if personal data is shared.
What should you check as the receiving party?
- That the purpose limitation still lets you carry out the assessment or work you were engaged for.
- That information you already knew, developed independently or that is public falls outside the definition.
- That the term ends on a fixed date rather than running indefinitely.
- That the penalty is proportionate and capped, given the court’s power to reduce under Article 6:94 BW.
- That return and destruction duties allow you to keep copies required by law or in automatic back-ups.
What can we do for you with a confidentiality agreement?
Unsere Unternehmensanwälte act for both disclosing and receiving parties, in transactions, supply chains and employment.
- We draft or review the confidentiality agreement, including the definition, term and penalty clause.
- We check how it interacts with later share purchase, services or shareholders agreements.
- We draft the flow-down clause for subcontractors and the data processing agreement under Article 28 GDPR.
- We secure evidence after a leak and send the notice of default.
- We start summary proceedings before the preliminary relief judge or an evidentiary seizure.
Zusammenfassung
- The Trade Secrets Act protects genuine trade secrets without a contract, but only if you took reasonable measures to keep them secret.
- Eine Vertraulichkeitsvereinbarung umfasst auch sensible Informationen, die kein Geschäftsgeheimnis darstellen, beschränkt deren Verwendung und regelt die Weitergabe.
- Unterschreiben Sie, bevor Sie die Informationen weitergeben, ordnen Sie die Informationen Kategorien zu und ordnen Sie den Begriff seiner kommerziellen Lebensdauer zu.
- A penalty clause spares you proving your loss, but under Article 6:94 BW the court can reduce it.
- Nach einem Datenleck sollten Sie zunächst die Beweise sichern, eine schriftliche Benachrichtigung versenden und gegebenenfalls ein summarisches Verfahren in Erwägung ziehen.
Häufig gestellte Fragen
Wie lange ist eine Geheimhaltungsvereinbarung typischerweise gültig?
Es gibt keine gesetzliche Aufbewahrungsfrist. Ein Zeitraum von zwei bis fünf Jahren ist gängige Praxis, keine Rechtsnorm. Entscheidend ist, dass die Dauer der kommerziellen Nutzungsdauer der zu schützenden Informationen entspricht.
Das niederländische Recht sieht keine feste Höchstfrist vor, daher ist eine unbefristete Schutzfrist nicht automatisch ungültig. Je länger der Zeitpunkt zurückliegt, an dem die Informationen einen tatsächlichen wirtschaftlichen Wert erlangten, desto schwieriger gestaltet sich jedoch die Durchsetzung der Verpflichtung. Aus diesem Grund empfehlen wir ein klares Enddatum, das widerspiegelt, wie lange die Informationen realistischerweise sensibel und wirtschaftlich wertvoll bleiben werden.
Was passiert, wenn sich jemand weigert zu unterschreiben?
Dann sollten Sie noch keine sensiblen Informationen weitergeben. Eine Ablehnung kann einfach die Vorgehensweise der Gegenseite widerspiegeln, beispielsweise die eines großen Unternehmens, das nur seine eigene Vorlage unterzeichnet. Sie kann aber auch bedeuten, dass die Gegenseite sich alle Optionen offenhalten möchte.
Fragen Sie nach dem Grund und bieten Sie eine gemeinsame Vereinbarung oder die Vorlage der Gegenseite mit Ihrer eigenen Definition vertraulicher Informationen an. Geben Sie bis zur Unterzeichnung nur Informationen weiter, deren Veröffentlichung Sie auch mit anderen akzeptieren würden . Beachten Sie, dass das Gesetz zum Schutz von Geschäftsgeheimnissen sowie die Grundsätze der Angemessenheit und Fairness weiterhin gelten, jedoch einen geringeren Schutz bieten als ein Vertrag.
Ist eine Geheimhaltungsvereinbarung auch nach Beendigung des Arbeitsverhältnisses noch gültig?
Ja, sofern dies im Vertrag so festgelegt ist. Eine gut formulierte Geheimhaltungsvereinbarung oder Vertraulichkeitsklausel legt fest, dass die Pflicht auch nach Beendigung des Arbeitsverhältnisses oder der Geschäftsbeziehung fortbesteht. Neben dem Vertrag schützt das Gesetz zum Schutz von Geschäftsgeheimnissen weiterhin echte Geschäftsgeheimnisse.
Um jegliche Zweifel auszuschließen, sollte der Vertrag ausdrücklich festlegen, dass die Pflicht zum Schutz vertraulicher Informationen für die gesamte im Geheimhaltungsabkommen festgelegte Laufzeit unabhängig vom Beschäftigungsstatus der betreffenden Person fortbesteht. Ein ehemaliger Mitarbeiter darf zwar weiterhin allgemeine Kenntnisse und Fähigkeiten nutzen, jedoch keine konkreten, geschützten Geschäftsinformationen.
