In Chinese employment law, a non-compete agreement is authorized by the Employment Contracts Act as a means to protect employer trade secrets by restricting a worker’s rights to compete with them, but to ensure fairness, requires compensation be paid to the employee during that time. A non-compete can only be signed with managers or technical workers who have access to trade secrets, and can prevent working at a competitor or a potential competitor. The non-compete period is based on how long the trade secrets will provide a competitive advantage but in no case can exceed two years.

A non-compete in China should make a detailed list of all competitors and types of job roles that may compete with the company.

Learn more about non-competes in China here.