Is an electronically signed NDA enforceable?

Electronic signatures are widely accepted for commercial agreements in the UK, EU and US. PDFpad produces a simple electronic signature with no identity verification or audit trail — for anything high-value, use a service that provides those.

Fill in and sign an NDA online

A non-disclosure agreement (NDA), also called a confidentiality agreement, is a contract in which one or both parties promise to keep information shared for a stated purpose confidential and not to use it for anything else. A one-way NDA protects one side’s information; a mutual NDA covers both sides sharing.

An NDA is usually sent as a finished document with three blanks: who you are, the date, and your signature.

Fill those in, sign, flatten, send. What you should not do is retype the agreement — if the terms need changing, that is a conversation, not an edit.

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Filling it in, section by section

Type of agreement: Check first whether you have a one-way or a mutual NDA. If you are looking for a UK NDA template, the Intellectual Property Office publishes example versions of both. If the other side has sent you their own, fill in that one.
Date: Many NDAs typically have a date line at the top as well as dates beside the signatures. Fill in every one, and make them agree.
Parties: An individual is usually named with their home address. A company is typically named with its registered name, where it is registered, its company number and its registered office address, as they appear on the official register.
Purpose: This clause says why the information is being shared, for example to discuss a possible joint venture. The recipient can typically use the information only for that purpose, so it should describe the actual project, not a blank or a placeholder.
Confidential information and exclusions: Defines what is covered, often regardless of how it is shared. It typically excludes information that is already public, or that the recipient already knew without any duty of confidence.
Recipient’s obligations: Usually: keep it secure, do not pass it on, and do not use it beyond the purpose. Look for who else may see it, such as employees or professional advisers who need to know. Also look for whether you must return all copies on request.
Duration: States how long the confidentiality promises last, either indefinitely or for a set number of years. Template wording often leaves a choice in square brackets, which must be settled before anyone signs.
Governing law and jurisdiction: Names the law that applies and whose courts deal with disputes, such as English law and the English courts in a UK agreement. Make sure it matches what was agreed.
Signature block: Typically Signature, Name and Position for each party. It also says whether you are signing for yourself or on behalf of a company as its authorised representative. If the NDA arrives as a flat scan, PDFpad lets you type on the lines and add your signature.

Filling it in neatly

Use the exact legal name of the company, and your role beneath your signature if there is a line for it.
Date it the day you sign, not the day it was drafted.
Flatten the result — a contract whose signature block can be dragged around invites argument.
Keep the signed copy somewhere you can find it in two years.

Common mistakes

Signing with square-bracket placeholders still in the text, such as “[insert number] years” or both options of a choice left in.
Signing a one-way NDA when both sides will be sharing confidential information.
Signing in your own name when you are signing for a company, or the other way round, so the signature block does not match the party named at the top.
Leaving the purpose so vague that it does not describe what the information may be used for.

Also searched as: confidentiality agreement, NDA PDF. Used in the UK and the US.

Questions

Is an electronically signed NDA enforceable?: Electronic signatures are widely accepted for commercial agreements in the UK, EU and US. PDFpad produces a simple electronic signature with no identity verification or audit trail — for anything high-value, use a service that provides those.