Does an employee in Egypt owe confidentiality without signing an NDA?

Yes. Article 685(d) of the Egyptian Civil Code (Law No. 131 of 1948) obliges the employee to preserve the industrial and commercial secrets of the work, and states that the obligation continues after the contract has ended. Article 136(1) of the Labour Law issued by Law No. 14 of 2025 separately prohibits the worker from keeping any work paper, document, electronic data or electronic security credential, or letting a third party obtain them.

Can an Egyptian employer dismiss a worker for breaching an NDA?

Article 148 of the Labour Law issued by Law No. 14 of 2025 lists proven disclosure of the establishment's secrets that caused it serious harm among the gross faults. The same article reserves the penalty of dismissal to the competent labour court and leaves only the other disciplinary penalties to the employer or its delegate.

Does an NDA cover personal data in Egypt?

An NDA does not displace the Personal Data Protection Law issued by Law No. 151 of 2020. Article 4(6) of that law requires the controller to take all technical and organisational measures and apply the standard criteria needed to protect and secure personal data, keeping it secret and preventing it from being breached, destroyed, altered or tampered with by any unlawful means.

Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) in Egypt

In Egypt a confidentiality undertaking sits on top of duties the law already imposes. The Civil Code makes the employee keep the industrial and commercial secrets of the work even after the contract has ended, and the Labour Law bars the worker from retaining any work document, electronic data or electronic security credential, or from letting a third party obtain any of it. Disclosure of the establishment's secrets that causes it serious harm is listed as a gross fault, but the penalty of dismissal can only be imposed by the competent labour court, not by the employer.

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Governing law

Confidentiality in an employment setting is governed by Article 685 of the Egyptian Civil Code (Law No. 131 of 1948) together with Articles 136 and 148 of the Labour Law issued by Law No. 14 of 2025.

Egyptian Civil Code (Law No. 131 of 1948), Art. 685 (Arabic text via WIPO Lex, consolidated to Law No. 55 of 1970)

What a non-disclosure agreement (nda) has to contain in Egypt

The employee is under a statutory duty to preserve the industrial and commercial secrets of the work, and that duty continues after the contract has come to an end.
Egyptian Civil Code (Law No. 131 of 1948), Art. 685(d)
The worker is prohibited from keeping for himself any paper or document belonging to the work, any electronic data, or any of the electronic security credentials of the work, and from enabling a third party to obtain any of those or any information concerning the work.
Labour Law issued by Law No. 14 of 2025, Art. 136(1) (Official Gazette No. 18 (bis), 3 May 2025, Arabic)
Proven disclosure by the worker of the secrets of the establishment where he works, where the disclosure caused the establishment serious harm, is one of the gross faults that can support dismissal.
Labour Law issued by Law No. 14 of 2025, Art. 148(4)
Where the confidential material is personal data processed electronically, the person holding it also carries the controller and processor duties of the Personal Data Protection Law, including the duty to take technical and organisational measures to keep the data secret and to prevent it being breached, destroyed, altered or tampered with.
Personal Data Protection Law issued by Law No. 151 of 2020, Art. 4(6) (Official Gazette No. 28 (bis)(e), 15 July 2020, Arabic, published by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology)

Form, notarisation and registration

The employer must give the worker a receipt for any papers and certificates the worker has deposited with it, which matters where an NDA is paired with the handover of originals.
Labour Law issued by Law No. 14 of 2025, Art. 89

What catches drafters out

An NDA cannot be used to reach dismissal directly. Under the Labour Law the power to impose the penalty of dismissal belongs to the competent labour court, while the employer or its delegate may impose only the other disciplinary penalties.
Labour Law issued by Law No. 14 of 2025, Art. 148
A confidentiality clause that also restrains the former employee from competing is measured against the separate and stricter test in Article 686 of the Civil Code, which requires limits of time, place and type of work.
Egyptian Civil Code (Law No. 131 of 1948), Art. 686