Confidentiality Agreement is an agreement signed by and between the employer and its’ employee, requiring the employee keeps the employer's trade secret and priority information. Confidentiality agreement is a kind of confidentiality measure commonly used by the employer.  

Both confidentiality agreement and non-competition agreement are means of preventing the company from leaking it’s trade secrets.

However, many employers can’t tell the differences between a confidentiality agreement and a non-competition agreement, and they always confuse one with another. Now, let’s see how they are different in the following aspects:

1. Nature of the liability

The duty of confidentiality is a statutory obligation based on direct provisions of the law, or a collateral obligation of the labor contract. Employee is obliged to keep confidentiality regardless of whether he and his employer have signed a confidentiality agreement.

However, the non-competition obligation is an agreed obligation based on the mutual agreement between the employerand the employee. Any employee is not required to fulfill the obligation of non-competition without an non-competition agreement.

2. Focus of the liability

Mainly speaking, confidentiality obligation requires employee not to divulge it’s employer’s trade secrets, meaning “not to disclose”. While non-competition obligation requires employee not to work with any company which compete with his previous employer or to start a competitive business himself, meaning “not to compete’.

3.Term of the liability...

4. liability for breachingagreement...

5. Condition forobserve the agreement...

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