If the doctoral thesis is subject to confidentiality agreements with companies or contains patentable material, the following documents must be submitted to the Academic Committee of the doctoral programme:

1. A general request form indicating any confidentiality agreements or intellectual property agreements that have a bearing on the submitted thesis.
2. A full copy of the thesis and an encrypted copy of the thesis, which must contain sufficient text to provide a general idea of the research carried out. Therefore, only those elements vital to protection of property rights or subsequent transfer of the results should be encrypted.
3. Originals or certified copies of all documents relating to the intellectual property agreements or knowledge and technology transfer agreements applicable to the content of the thesis.
4. The original copy or a certified copy of the report issued by the thesis supervisor (and ratified by the internal examiner, if applicable) approving the request to submit the thesis with associated confidentiality and rights agreements.

The members of the Academic Committee are required to maintain full confidentiality of the content of the doctoral thesis and must sign the confidentiality agreement.

The Committee will respond to the request within ten calendar days from the day after submission of the general request form to the General Registry Office.

Final authorisation to submit the doctoral thesis with associated confidentiality and rights agreements must be given by the Doctoral Studies Committee of the UPC (see thesis reading procedure for these cases).