Process for the purification of carbonyl chlorides which have been prepared by reacting carboxylic acids with phosgene or thionyl chloride in the presence of a catalyst adduct, in which the carbonyl chlorides are treated with a hydrohalide of carboxamides of the formula (I) in which R1 is hydrogen or C1- to C3-alkyl; R2 and R3 independently of one another are C1- to C4-alkyl, or R2 and R3 together are a C4- or C5-alkylene chain, and the carbonyl chloride purified in this way is isolated by separation off from the carboxamide hydrohalide phase.