How we handle your confidential brand and project information — by default, and on request.

1. The default: you get NDA-tier confidentiality from the first email

We treat every RFQ as confidential from receipt. You do not need to wait for a signed NDA before sharing project information — our internal handling of incoming enquiries already enforces:

• Project-coded internal references. Every project gets an internal code (e.g., "PRJ-4082"). Your brand name does not appear on our shop floor, in scheduling systems, on plate-mounting logs, or in WIP photographs until the printed packaging itself.
• Compartmentalized pre-press team. Your artwork is accessible only to the pre-press personnel assigned to your project, not to general staff.
• Encrypted file storage. Project files (artwork, dielines, brand assets) are stored on access-controlled systems with audit logging.
• No customer-facing identification on inbound packaging samples or in our reference library.

These practices apply by default. The signed NDA documented below adds formal legal weight and a few additional protections, but the operational baseline does not depend on it.

2. The mutual NDA we sign by default

2.1 Format

We sign a mutual NDA (both parties accept confidentiality obligations) within 4 hours of your first email confirming you want one. We can either sign your NDA template or send ours — both work. We use DocuSign for electronic signatures or email PDF if your IT policies prefer.

2.2 Standard terms in our default NDA

2.3 What we won't sign

We're flexible on NDA wording but won't sign clauses that:

• Impose unlimited or unbounded liability on us for breaches
• Require us to indemnify you for third-party claims caused by your own materials
• Grant you a license to our pre-existing intellectual property (process know-how, equipment library, material formulations)
• Restrict our ability to serve other clients in the same broad category (we will commit to per-SKU brand exclusivity — see Section 4 — but not to category-wide non-compete)

These exclusions are standard among reputable converters. Our commercial counterparty will usually accept these positions; if not, we discuss alternatives.

3. What we don't share, full stop

Even without a signed NDA, the following kinds of information are never shared outside the project team:

• Your brand name, logo, or brand identity associated with your project (until the printed packaging is produced)
• Your product formulation, recipe, or commercial strategy information that you share for spec purposes
• Your artwork, dielines, design files, or pre-production materials
• Your pricing, volume, delivery, or commercial terms
• Your customer list, distribution partners, or downstream buyers (when shared incidentally)
• Anything you mark "confidential" in correspondence or in a file

4. Brand-exclusivity commitment (per-SKU)

Once we run a complete artwork + dieline + colorway combination for you, we don't reuse it for another client. This applies automatically — no separate exclusivity agreement needed:

• Your printed artwork: never reused. Plates / cylinders carrying your art are stored under your project code or destroyed at your request.
• Your custom dieline (if non-standard): treated as your IP for the engagement.
• Your specific colorway (Pantone library customizations): held on file for your reorders.

Generic dielines (standard pouch shapes, standard carton geometries) remain available to all clients as base templates — these are not your IP and we cannot reasonably commit to exclusivity on industry-standard shapes. Your printed brand identity over those shapes is yours.

5. Internal shop-floor practices

The operational reality of confidentiality looks like this:

• Project coding. Every job gets a code (e.g., "PRJ-4082"). The shop floor, press operators, QC team, and shipping desk see only the code, not your brand.
• Compartmentalized teams. Sales account manager + pre-press + production project manager — typically 3–5 people total — are the only personnel with access to your brand identity on internal systems.
• Daily WIP photo handling. Production progress photos shared with you via password-protected client portal, not open email or chat.
• Plate / cylinder storage. Tooling for your SKUs stored under project code in our tool library, returnable to you on request or destroyable at project end.
• Retain samples. One physical retain sample per SKU per batch held for 24 months for quality reference. Storage is under project code, not brand name.
• Visitor access. Customer visits to the factory are scheduled to avoid overlap with other clients' production runs and access to other clients' WIP materials.

6. Subcontractor confidentiality

Some specialized operations (third-party laboratory testing, freight forwarders, custom die fabrication, certain niche material suppliers) require involvement of external parties. We:

• Use long-standing partners with their own confidentiality protocols
• Share only the minimum information needed for the specific task
• Where appropriate, require subcontractor NDA flow-down on a per-project basis
• Maintain our overall obligation to you regardless of subcontractor involvement

7. What we will reveal — by legal compulsion

If we are legally compelled to disclose confidential information (court order, customs request, regulatory inspection), we will:

• Notify you promptly in writing, unless legally prohibited from doing so
• Cooperate with you to seek a protective order or other appropriate remedy
• Disclose only the minimum information legally required
• Document the disclosure for our records

For routine customs and tax compliance, we disclose only the technical and commercial information legally required for the shipment — never the broader project context.

8. Shipping document handling

Commercial invoices, packing lists, and bills of lading can — at your request and where legally permissible — carry your company as shipper rather than ours. Our name appears only where customs or shipping carrier requirements legally mandate it.

For private-label projects, this is the default. For other arrangements, specify your preference at PO sign-off.

9. Project closure and information retention

On project closure (final shipment delivered) or NDA termination:

• Active production files: archived under project code
• Plates / cylinders: stored for 12 months in case of reorder; destroyed or returned thereafter on request
• Retain samples: held 24 months minimum, available to you for quality reference
• Brand correspondence: retained 5 years for operational records, then deleted
• Financial records: held 7 years per tax / customs requirements

On request, we can accelerate destruction of plates and project-specific files at project end. Records subject to legal retention obligations cannot be destroyed early.

10. Breach response

In the unlikely event of a confidentiality incident, we commit to:

• Notify you within 48 hours of confirming the incident
• Provide a written root-cause report within 5 business days
• Take corrective action to prevent recurrence
• Cooperate with any investigation you choose to conduct
• Accept the contractual remedy specified in our signed NDA, up to the negotiated liability cap

11. Contact

To request an NDA: include "NDA request" in the subject of your initial email tosales@phpacking.com or check the NDA box on theRFQ form.

To discuss bespoke confidentiality arrangements (regulated industries, government, high-security contracts), contact us directly to scope custom terms before signing.