In March 2018, the Washington Post reported senior White House
staff signed confidentiality agreements stipulating that officials
could face monetary penalties if they disclosed confidential White
House information to the press or others and that these were
intended to remain in effect after the current President is no
longer in office. A draft copy of the agreement would have
subjected violators to penalties of $10 million, payable to the
federal government for each and any unauthorized revelation of
"confidential" information.
This is perhaps the latest high-profile example of the
widespread use of a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), including for
business, personal and other purposes. This article highlights some
of the issues in the enforceability across borders of breaches of
NDAs. The first part will consider the ability to impose
"penalties" for breaches of NDAs and how (as an example)
that is treated under Australian law. The second part will outline
some of
