It’s very common to use PDFs as the file format of choice for important, sensitive, and secure documents. With such potentially sensitive information contained within electronic documents, you may want to attach a confidentiality disclaimer or statement to your document or the email that you attach your sensitive document to.
In this article, we’ll help you assemble your confidentiality notice for PDF documents. We’ll explain a bit about the purpose of a confidentiality statement as well as some examples of how confidentiality statements are used. As a bonus, we’ll explain why you might add a watermark to a PDF for an extra layer of protection!
Before we dive in, though, a disclaimer: We are not legal experts nor are we providing legal advice. A confidentiality statement doesn’t guarantee protection from legal consequences or privacy breaches. Consult with a lawyer or legal professional about sharing confidential information. This article is merely to help you craft a confidentiality statement, understand common elements of them, and give examples you can borrow from.
Confidentiality Statement Purpose
A confidentiality statement is usually at the back or bottom of a document and has a simple declaration of the confidentiality of the document that it’s attached to. The specific legality will vary based on the nature of the document. In broad terms, a confidentiality statement explains that if the document’s contents are shared without consent, there could be legal consequences.
A confidentiality statement is more of a statement of intent or ethical reminder rather than a direct, legally binding contract. Confidentiality statements are not substitutes for formal agreements between two parties. If there is a legal dispute as a result of breaking a document’s confidentiality, the confidentiality statement may be able to support a party’s side of the argument.
There are a few types of potential confidentiality statements:
- Confidentiality agreement: A mutual agreement between two parties to treat the attached information as confidential. This means they cannot share it with outside entities (like other businesses). Usually, both parties share confidential information with each other.
- Non-disclosure statement: Sometimes also called a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), it’s common for one party to create a non-disclosure statement for another specific party to sign so that a document (or other information) is not shared. It can be mutual, but usually it’s created to limit one party from sharing confidential information with another.
- Confidentiality statement: Confidentiality statements are usually one-way and non-specific. In other words, a confidentiality statement may be included in the document, but not specifically signed by the receiving party (the party that receives the document may not be listed in the NDA). This may be less legally binding and act more as a warning, a statement of intent or request, as in, “Please do not share the information in this PDF.”
Confidentiality Statement Examples
Confidentiality notice
What is a confidentiality notice? It is text, usually placed at the start of a document (such as a fax) stating that the contents of the document contain confidential information only intended for specific entities listed. The entities could be listed in a fax cover sheet. This notice is a disclaimer rather than a legally binding contract. Here is an example of text that could be in a confidentiality notice:
This communication and any attached documents may contain confidential or privileged information intended solely for the use of the named recipient(s). If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately and delete all copies. Unauthorized review, use, disclosure, or distribution is strictly prohibited.
Again, before sending sensitive information, it’s important to consult with a legal expert about the enforceability of a unilateral phrase such as “strictly prohibited.”
Business-oriented confidentiality statement
What is a business confidentiality statement? It’s text that might be designed to protect trade secrets or other confidential business information from falling into the wrong hands. The nature of the information could be financial, intellectual, or something else intended to be secure. Here is an example of a business-oriented confidentiality statement:
The contents of this document are confidential and proprietary to the sender. By accessing or reviewing this material, you agree not to disclose, copy, or distribute it without prior written consent. If received in error, please notify us and destroy all copies.
We can’t stress this enough — consult with a legal expert before issuing a unilateral “…you agree not to disclose…” statement.
Privacy statement
For personal usage, this is an example of a brief and direct privacy statement that could potentially be used by an individual who is sharing a PDF or faxing private information to another party:
This document contains sensitive information. Unauthorized use or disclosure is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete it and notify the sender.
It’s worth repeating: Check with a legal expert about the enforceability of privacy statements.
Confidentiality in legal context
Potentially used in legal proceedings or with documents related to legal firms, this statement contains context explaining that the attached fax document has legal implications and should not be viewed or shared by an unintended recipient:
This message and any attachments are confidential and may be protected by legal privilege. If you are not the intended recipient, any review, dissemination, or copying is strictly prohibited. Please contact the sender and delete the message.
This statement suggests that a legal agreement exists prior to sharing information; make sure your legal counsel reviews your processes for sharing confidential information.
Watermarking Your Document
Watermarks are transparent pieces of text or pictures that provide context about the nature of a document that they’re placed on. Watermarks are easy to create using a PDF editor. We explain more about watermarks, how to make them, and what they’re used for in this article.
So why might you include a watermark on your confidential document?
Once you’ve included your confidentiality statement and cover sheet, anyone who receives your fax or emailed PDF will immediately see that the document contains sensitive information. In the absence of a confidentiality statement, they may not know that the information that they’re viewing is confidential. A watermark with text saying confidential may alert the recipient that they should not be viewing the document. The watermark might deter someone from making copies and distributing the PDF.