Are NDAs legally binding in Switzerland? A guide for employers [2025]

To protect trade secrets and other confidential information, many employers hiring in Switzerland have their new hires sign non-disclosure agreements (also called NDAs, confidentiality agreements, or confidentiality clauses). And while elsewhere in Europe and even Canada, lawmakers are cracking down on NDAs to ensure they’re not used as gagging clauses to silence whistleblowers or workers who have been the victims of discrimination and abuse, there hasn’t been any pushback over the use of confidentiality agreements in Switzerland.

In this guide, we’ll discuss whether NDAs are enforceable in Switzerland, how you can use them to protect your company, and more.

What is an NDA?

Simply put, non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) protect a company by prohibiting the sharing of confidential information with third parties, like their competitors. These documents are legally binding and also give the company legal recourse should their sensitive information be shared without their permission.

Confidentiality agreements can cover a wide variety of things, including, but not limited to:

• Trade secrets

• Business models

• Financial information

• The development of a new product or concept the company intends to patent

• Client data

Are NDAs enforceable in Switzerland?

Yes, confidentiality agreements are enforceable in Switzerland. Swiss courts have long recognized the importance and ubiquitousness of NDAs in the modern business market. The Swiss legal system is known across the world for its fairness and balance, and it demonstrates this in the way it handles confidentiality breaches: on a case-by-case basis. 

Note: our guide is for informational purposes and isn’t intended to provide legal advice.

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Three things you need to know about NDAs in Switzerland

1. There are different types of NDAs

You’re most likely to encounter the following two types of non-disclosure agreements in Switzerland:

• Mutual non-disclosure agreements are legally binding documents that prevent both parties from sharing any confidential information with unauthorized third parties. 

• Unilateral confidentiality agreements, as the name suggests, only bar one party from sharing sensitive information with anyone else. The individual who will be given the information is called the receiving party, while the one relaying the information is the disclosing party.

2. There’s no specific body of legislation governing NDAs

Interestingly, the laws in Switzerland don’t have any specific standalone legislation about confidentiality agreements. Instead, the legal framework on which enforceability and other, similar matters are based comes from provisions in the Federal Constitution, the Federal Act on Work in Industry, the Swiss Civil Code, the Employment Law, and a few other areas of legislation. The most relevant statutes under Swiss law include the Swiss Federal Act Against Unfair Competition (UCA), the Swiss Criminal Code (CC), and the sections of employment law in the Swiss Code of Obligations (CO).

3. Certain information needs to be included in a Swiss NDA

When you draw up a confidentiality agreement in Switzerland, be sure to include the following information:

• The duration of time the NDA will last

• What the NDA covers in terms of scope and content specifically

• Why the NDA is being drawn up and why one or both parties will be disclosing sensitive information

• Who the parties are

• What exactly the parties can or cannot do with the sensitive information they are privy to

• Each party’s obligation of confidentiality and the consequences if there is a breach of contract

• Whether there are any exclusions to the confidentiality obligation (i.e. whether there is any information that will be disclosed during the business relationship that doesn’t need to be kept a secret)

• The jurisdiction of the NDA; in other words, which court will accept the case if there is a breach of contract

Frequently asked questions about NDAs in Switzerland

Benefits of confidentiality in Switzerland

NDAs protect companies from harm in the case that intellectual property, confidential information, or other proprietary assets become public without their permission. They also give the business legal recourse to take action should the receiving party breach the contract and unlawfully share confidential information with a third party.