Version
Version 1.1 · 23 October 2026
Parties
Deepak Sharma, trading as Trusted Lingo (sole proprietorship), Käthchen-Paulus-Straße 2, 60486 Frankfurt am Main, Germany; contractual contact: contact@trustedlingo.com; security and data-protection incidents: admin@trustedlingo.com ("Trusted Lingo"), and the freelance translator or independent translation business identified in the accepted Trusted Lingo Platform account (the "Translator").
Trusted Lingo commissions translation and related services under its General Terms and Conditions of Business and Platform Use for Freelance Translators, version 1.3 (the "Translator Terms of Service"). In that relationship, the Translator may receive confidential customer documents and non-public operational information. This Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) ("this Agreement" or "this NDA") supplements clause 10 of the Translator Terms of Service and is accepted separately. It does not replace the Translator Terms of Service, an applicable data-processing agreement or a separately accepted General Code of Conduct.
§ 1 Confidential Information
1.1 "Confidential Information" means non-public information received or learned by the Translator in connection with Trusted Lingo, a prospective Assignment or an accepted Assignment, in any medium and whether or not marked confidential. It includes source documents (including their contents, scans, images, signatures and annotations); drafts, translations, certificates, supporting files, glossaries and customer-specific translation memories; the non-public identity of End Customers and the fact or subject matter of an Assignment; customer and translator prices, remuneration and commercial terms; workflows, templates, Platform data, credentials, security arrangements and related notes, extracts and summaries.
1.2 Existing ownership, copyright, privacy and other rights in such information remain with their respective lawful holders. No ownership or licence is transferred by this NDA. Rights to use translation work products are determined exclusively by clause 12 of the Translator Terms of Service and the agreed Assignment.
1.3 Non-public remuneration rates and individually agreed commercial conditions must not be disclosed to End Customers or other third parties without authorisation; permitted disclosures under § 5 and statutory obligations remain unaffected.
§ 2 Exclusions and Permitted Professional Knowledge
2.1 The confidentiality obligation does not apply to information to the extent the Translator can demonstrate that it: (a) is or becomes lawfully public without breach of an obligation; (b) was lawfully known without restriction before receipt; (c) was lawfully received from an authorised third party without a duty of confidence; or (d) was independently developed without use of Confidential Information.
2.2 A public fact does not automatically make a non-public customer relationship, Assignment or document compilation public. Personal data must in all cases be handled in accordance with applicable data-protection law, even where particular facts fall within an exception under § 2.1. Statutory and professional secrecy duties remain unaffected.
2.3 The Translator remains free to use general linguistic skills, independent experience and non-confidential terminology, consistently with clause 12.3 of the Translator Terms of Service. Customer-identifying translation memories or extracts may not be reused without legal authorisation.
§ 3 Confidentiality, Authorised Use and Security
3.1 The Translator may access and use Confidential Information only for the specific approved Assignment, necessary professional or legal compliance, or another purpose expressly authorised by Trusted Lingo in Text Form. The Translator must not publish, share in a portfolio, use for advertising or training datasets, profile individuals, or otherwise exploit Confidential Information. This applies to purportedly anonymised extracts that remain identifying or confidential.
3.2 Disclosure is permitted to Trusted Lingo and to recipients, authorities, couriers or other persons expressly designated in the accepted Assignment, using authorised channels and only to the necessary extent. Any other assistant, reviewer or subcontractor requires Trusted Lingo’s prior approval in Text Form, equivalent confidentiality commitments and, where relevant, approval under clause 9 and Annex 1 of the Translator Terms of Service. The Translator remains responsible as provided by law.
3.3 The Translator must apply the security measures required by clause 8 of the Translator Terms of Service and, where the Translator acts as a processor, Annex 1, clause A6. These include suitable account protection, updates, secure communications and storage, protection of physical documents, and controlled copying. The specific requirements for encryption and multi-factor authentication, and any documented equivalent alternatives, are those of the applicable Translator Terms of Service and its Annex 1; processing without adequate safeguards is prohibited.
3.4 Confidential Information must not be submitted to external generative-AI systems, public machine-translation services, cloud-based CAT tools, hosted translation memories or other third-party systems without Trusted Lingo’s express prior authorisation in Text Form and satisfaction of any applicable privacy and subcontractor requirements.
3.5 The Translator must not contact End Customers or other persons named in customer documents except through channels approved for the Assignment; clause 13 of the Translator Terms of Service applies accordingly.
3.6 Loss, suspected unauthorised access, misdirected delivery or any confidentiality or security incident must be reported without undue delay to admin@trustedlingo.com, preferably within 24 hours after discovery. The Translator will provide available facts and cooperate in containment, investigation and legally required notifications.
3.7 The Translator shall minimise copies and maintain sufficient awareness of storage locations to comply with return and deletion instructions. No personal copies or records may be retained simply for convenience.
§ 4 Personal Data and Special Professional Secrecy
4.1 Assignments may contain ordinary personal data, special categories of personal data under Article 9 GDPR (such as health or religious information), and criminal-conviction/offence data governed separately by Article 10 GDPR. Family status is not automatically special-category data. The Translator shall process such data only on a lawful basis related to the Assignment and subject to the actual data-protection role documented under clause 11.2 of the Translator Terms of Service.
4.2 Where the Translator acts as a processor or further processor, the applicable Data Processing Agreement (Annex 1 to the Translator Terms of Service) and documented instructions govern processing. Where the Translator acts as an independent controller for an activity, its separate statutory obligations and the role arrangement documented before access apply. This NDA itself does not determine or alter the parties’ GDPR roles. The Translator accepts the confidentiality commitment required for authorised persons under Article 28(3)(b) GDPR wherever processor duties apply.
4.3 Certain Assignments may contain secrets entrusted to professional secrecy holders, such as lawyers, doctors or tax advisers. Depending on the actual professional relationship and applicable law, requirements including section 203 of the German Criminal Code (StGB) may apply to persons assisting them. Trusted Lingo shall identify special secrecy requirements and arrange necessary permissions or commitments before providing the materials. The Translator shall follow the communicated restrictions and point out any uncertainty before accessing or disclosing the material.
4.4 The Translator must not independently research, contact or profile persons identified in documents, or combine their data with other sources, except where expressly necessary and authorised for the Assignment or legally required.
§ 5 Lawful Disclosures and Protected Rights
5.1 The Translator may disclose Confidential Information to the extent required by applicable law or an effective court or official order. Where lawful, the Translator will inform Trusted Lingo in advance, limit the disclosure to what is necessary and seek appropriate confidential treatment.
5.2 The Translator may disclose to their own lawyer, tax adviser, auditor or insurer the information necessary for obtaining advice, provided the recipient is bound by a statutory duty of secrecy or an adequate confidentiality obligation and the disclosure is otherwise lawful.
5.3 Nothing in this Agreement restricts lawful whistleblowing, disclosures protected by the German Whistleblower Protection Act (HinSchG) or section 5 of the German Trade Secrets Act (GeschGehG), cooperation with competent authorities or professional bodies, the exercise or defence of legal rights, or any other disclosure that mandatory law protects. No prior approval or advance notice is required where this would compromise a legally protected report or is prohibited by law.
§ 6 Return, Deletion and Permitted Retention
6.1 On completion, cancellation or other end of an Assignment, the Translator shall return or securely delete customer documents, working files and unnecessary copies according to Trusted Lingo’s documented instructions and the applicable data-protection arrangement. Unless a shorter lawful deadline is given, unnecessary working copies must ordinarily be deleted without undue delay, and as a rule no later than 30 calendar days after completion. For personal data the Translator holds as a processor, the choice between return and deletion under Annex 1, clause A11 governs and prevails over this default rule.
6.2 Upon a reasonable request, the Translator will confirm completion of the required return or deletion in Text Form within seven calendar days after completing the action, identifying any lawful exceptions. If a requested action cannot lawfully or technically be completed within the stated period, the Translator shall promptly explain the reason, interim safeguards and proposed completion date.
6.3 Retention is permitted only to the extent required by applicable law or professional rules, or justified by an identified and legally supportable need to establish, exercise or defend legal claims. Retained material must be minimised, segregated, access-restricted and unused for other purposes, and deleted when the basis expires. Where the Translator acts as a processor, any retained processor data is governed by Annex 1 and applicable law.
6.4 Backups must not be used as a general exception to deletion. Where individual deletion from an approved technical backup is not reasonably possible, copies must remain protected against routine access, must not be restored for ordinary use, and must be removed by the documented backup lifecycle, to the extent permitted by applicable law and the relevant controller instructions. Unapproved cloud or local duplicates are not permitted.
6.5 At the end of the cooperation, the same return and deletion principles apply to other Confidential Information, subject to the retention and secrecy obligations set out in this Agreement.
§ 7 Commencement and Continuing Obligations
7.1 This Agreement takes effect when the Translator actively accepts version 1.1 electronically in a storable form. It governs Confidential Information received thereafter and the Translator’s handling, from that point forward, of Confidential Information already lawfully held. It does not retrospectively turn past lawful conduct into a contractual breach. Access to End Customer information is subject to the separate requirements of the Translator Terms of Service.
7.2 During the contractual relationship the confidentiality duties apply throughout. After it ends, obligations regarding non-public customer identities and document contents, personal data and trade secrets remain for as long as a legitimate interest in confidentiality, applicable data-protection law or a statutory or professional secrecy duty so requires. For other Confidential Information, contractual confidentiality continues for five years after the cooperation ends.
7.3 Where the Translator is a business employing or legitimately engaging others, the Translator must ensure that each authorised person is subject to appropriate enforceable confidentiality obligations. This NDA does not directly bind persons or legal successors who are not parties to it; statutory succession rules remain unaffected.
§ 8 Breach, Remedies and Mutual Confidentiality
8.1 If a breach occurs or is threatened, Trusted Lingo may seek cessation, protection, injunctive relief or interim judicial measures if and to the extent their statutory requirements are satisfied.
8.2 Liability for a culpable breach is governed by applicable law and clause 17 of the Translator Terms of Service, including any applicable statutory claims connected with End Customer losses or Article 82 GDPR. No contractual penalty, fixed liquidated damages, blanket strict-liability indemnity or automatic forfeiture of earned translator fees is agreed.
8.3 Serious or repeated violations may justify proportionate suspension or termination for good cause under clause 18 of the Translator Terms of Service, subject to applicable statutory conditions. Properly earned remuneration remains payable under the contractual and statutory rules.
8.4 Trusted Lingo will treat the Translator’s own non-public rates, qualification documents and personal data confidentially, in accordance with the Translator Terms of Service, the Privacy Information for Translators and applicable law.
§ 9 Relationship to Other Terms; Law; Acceptance
9.1 German law applies to this Agreement to the extent permitted by mandatory law. Jurisdiction is governed by the statutory rules referred to in clause 20.2 of the Translator Terms of Service; this NDA does not agree a separate forum.
9.2 Amendments must be supplied in a storable form and accepted by an unambiguous affirmative action before they govern new Assignments. Silence and mere continued use do not constitute acceptance. Already accepted Assignments remain subject to the previously agreed version unless otherwise expressly agreed. Trusted Lingo records the account identifier, version, exact agreed text and acceptance timestamp and makes a copy available on request.
9.3 If a standard term is invalid, the remaining terms remain effective to the extent provided by law, and the applicable statutory rules govern instead (section 306 BGB).
9.4 This NDA supplements clause 10 of the Translator Terms of Service. Mandatory law and legally protected disclosures take priority. For processing on behalf of another party, the applicable Data Processing Agreement and its mandatory requirements take priority. This NDA does not restrict disclosures expressly authorised in an Assignment or alter the work-product usage rights under clause 12 of the Translator Terms of Service. Other provisions of the Translator Terms of Service and any separately accepted General Code of Conduct remain applicable within their respective scope.
9.5 This Agreement is provided in German and English with corresponding clause numbers and substance. If the versions diverge, the German version prevails insofar as legally permissible.
Electronic acceptance
By selecting “I accept the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA), version 1.1” during onboarding, or before first permitted access to an Assignment where applicable, the Translator affirmatively accepts this Agreement. Trusted Lingo records the account identifier, full versioned text, date and time of acceptance. A handwritten signature is not required unless a mandatory rule requires one.