Trade Secret Clauses in Employment Contracts

Write a secrets duty and a non-compete as separate clauses with separate legal engines.

Employment confidentiality can last beyond the job and does not require monthly pay. It should define categories, marking, systems the employee must use, prohibition on personal WeChat dumps, and return of devices. Liquidated damages may be agreed but remain adjustable. A non-compete is a different clause: eligible staff, two-year cap, monthly compensation. Mixing ‘you may not work for a competitor and all information is secret’ into one paragraph is how both tools fail. Handbook democratic procedure still matters if the detailed rules live in the handbook.

The classification screen

4 questions before you choose the route.

This page identifies the right question and evidence. It does not determine the legal outcome on a reader’s facts.

Is this confidentiality, non-compete, or IP assignment?

Three clauses, three tests.

Split

Did you identify categories rather than ‘everything’?

Courts discount kitchen-sink secrets.

Scope

Are handbook rules consulted and publicised?

A clause that only points to an unpublished PDF is weak.

Handbook

What happens on exit?

Return, token cut-off, and whether non-compete pay starts.

Exit

Working rule: Employment confidentiality can last beyond the job and does not require monthly pay. It should define categories, marking, systems the employee must use, prohibition on personal WeChat dumps, and return of devices.

What changes the answer

The signal ledger.

These facts move the question beyond a label and into a product, money-flow and control analysis.

Signal

Ask the operating question

Why it changes the route

Fake non-compete

Does the confidentiality clause ban working for a rival with no pay?

That is an unpaid non-compete and is the wrong tool.

No categories

Does it say all information forever?

Hard to enforce and hard to prove AUCL limbs.

English HQ only

Did the employee receive a Chinese labour-contract version?

Notice and understanding still matter.

Prepare before you escalate

Bring a compact evidence docket—not a pitch deck.

Give a compliance team or counsel the operating facts that reveal the perimeter.

01Labor contract clausesConfidentiality, IP assignment, non-compete — separately.

02HandbookDetailed IT and secrets rules plus consultation proof.

03AcknowledgementChinese text received on day one.

04Exit annexReturn certificate and non-compete payment start.

Common confusions

Questions people ask before they build.

Short answers for orientation. The right result can change with the service model and current rules.

Can one clause do secrets and non-compete?

You can put them in one document. You should not fuse the legal tests. Pay, class and two-year cap belong only to the non-compete.

Is this different from the employee-confidentiality Quick Answer?

That page is the duty and AUCL overlay. This page is how to draft the labour-contract clause without breaking either tool.

Primary authorities

Reviewed sources support orientation, not a fact-specific assessment.

National laws database (NPC)

Anti-Unfair Competition Law (gov.cn)

PRC Labor Contract Law (gov.cn)

Supreme People’s Court