In Brief

One of the first con­sid­er­a­tions with any type of new ven­ture is how to pro­tect your busi­ness, valu­able idea or con­cept if you need to dis­close it to others.


When is a con­fi­den­tial­i­ty agree­ment needed?

If you need to dis­close your valu­able busi­ness infor­ma­tion or ideas to a poten­tial part­ner, advis­er or investor then a con­fi­den­tial­i­ty agree­ment is an essen­tial tool.

What is a con­fi­den­tial­i­ty agreement?

A Con­fi­den­tial­i­ty Agree­ment” or a Non-Dis­clo­sure Agree­ment” is a legal­ly bind­ing con­tract which con­tains promis­es from the recip­i­ent of the con­fi­den­tial infor­ma­tion to lim­it the use of the infor­ma­tion to a spe­cif­ic purpose.

Con­fi­den­tial­i­ty agree­ment tips

A con­fi­den­tial­i­ty agree­ment must do three things:

  • define what infor­ma­tion is con­fi­den­tial information”
  • iden­ti­fy the spe­cif­ic pur­pose the for which infor­ma­tion will be supplied
  • restrict its dis­clo­sure and iden­ti­fy any per­mis­si­ble disclosures.

The fol­low­ing state­ments should be includ­ed (if applicable):

  • dis­clo­sure is not intend­ed to trans­fer any rights in such information
  • there is no exclu­siv­i­ty grant­ed to the recip­i­ent in the con­fi­den­tial information
  • there is no oblig­a­tion on the dis­clos­er to pro­vide con­fi­den­tial information
  • the sup­ply of con­fi­den­tial infor­ma­tion does not con­sti­tute an offer of any kind
  • no war­ran­ty is giv­en about the accu­ra­cy or com­plete­ness of the information.

The fol­low­ing state­ments should be includ­ed (if applicable):

  • the recip­i­ent must keep the infor­ma­tion confidential
  • the recip­i­ent is respon­si­ble for any unau­tho­rised disclosure
  • the recip­i­ent acknowl­edges that breach of the agree­ment may cause loss to the discloser
  • the recip­i­ent indem­ni­fies the dis­clos­er for any loss aris­ing from the recipient’s breach of the agreement
  • the recip­i­ent must return all con­fi­den­tial infor­ma­tion on demand
  • the recip­i­ent agrees not to solic­it or approach employ­ees, cus­tomers or sup­pli­ers of the dis­clos­er or inter­fere with its business.

The fol­low­ing state­ments should be includ­ed (if applicable):

  • the term of the agree­ment – how long the agree­ment should be in force
  • gov­ern­ing law and juris­dic­tion – the laws of which state or coun­try should apply.

If you would like any fur­ther infor­ma­tion please contact:

If you would like to repub­lish this arti­cle, it is gen­er­al­ly approved, but pri­or to doing so please con­tact the Mar­ket­ing team at marketing@​swaab.​com.​au. This arti­cle is not legal advice and the views and com­ments are of a gen­er­al nature only. This arti­cle is not to be relied upon in sub­sti­tu­tion for detailed legal advice.

Publications

Assess­ing Scope 3 Emis­sions: An analy­sis of the impli­ca­tions of Den­man Aberdeen Muswell­brook Scone Healthy Envi­ron­ment Group Inc v MACH Ener­gy Aus­tralia Pty Ltd [2025] NSW­CA 163 (the Mount Pleas­ant decision)

Intro­duc­tionOn July 24, 2025, the New South Wales Court of Appeal (NSW­CA) deliv­ered a land­mark rul­ing in Den­man Aberdeen Muswell­brook Scone…

Work­place Rela­tion­ships: The Legal Posi­tion (Cold­play Con­cert Edition)

The recent sto­ry of col­leagues (a Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer and Chief Peo­ple Offi­cer (CPO)) whose appar­ent rela­tion­ship was cap­tured on…

Dis­missal for Dissent?

The recent unfair dis­missal deci­sion of the Fair Work Com­mis­sion, Shaun Turn­er v Dare­bin City Coun­cil [2025] FWC 1763, in which Deputy…

In the News

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, Employ­ee award­ed $305k in record sex­u­al harass­ment pay­out”, pub­lished in HRM Online on 12 August 2025

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“Employ­ee award­ed $305k in record sex­u­al harass­ment pay­out”, pub­lished in HRM Online on…

Michael Byrnes appeared on Mon­ey News with Evan Lucas on 2GB on 4 August 2025 to dis­cuss the pro­posed Vic­to­ri­an state gov­ern­ment work from home laws

Michael Byrnes appeared on Mon­ey News with Evan Lucas on 2GB on 4 August 2025 to dis­cuss the pro­posed Vic­to­ri­an state gov­ern­ment…

Julie Briscoe attend­ed an event last night host­ed by NSW Gov­er­nor Mar­garet Bea­z­ley, cel­e­brat­ing Tour de Cure’s sup­port for world-class can­cer research breakthroughs.

Her Excel­len­cy the Hon­ourable Mar­garet Bea­z­ley AC KC, Gov­er­nor of New South Wales, and patron of Tour de Cure, host­ed…

Sign up for our Newsletter

*Mandatory information