A secondary sealing element comprises a base body (12) made of a synthetic material and comprising a base portion (13) and a seal portion (14) which each comprise coaxially aligned, axially adjacent through bores (17, 31) for the passage of a component, and an annular disc element (25) accommodated in the base portion and comprising a through bore (30) coaxially aligned with the through bores in the base and seal portions and being made of a material which differs from that of the base body. In the unloaded state, the through bore (30) of the annular disc element (25) has a radial dimension d which is greater than that D.sub.2 of the through bore (31) in the seal portion (14) and smaller than that D.sub.1 in the base portion (13) of the base body (12). The annular disc element consists of a carbon material. An important field of application for the secondary sealing element is that of mechanical face seals for sealing relatively moveable components.