Publication details
Confidentiality of the Materials Used in the Course of Arbitral Proceedings
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2017 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | The aim of this chapter is to analyse whether and on what conditions the duty of a party to maintain confidentiality extends to the various materials used in international commercial arbitration, what is the scope and the limits of that duty. Concerning the limits, special attention will be paid to limiting due to ‘public interest’. The chapter comes to the conclusion that at present, no general duty of the parties to maintain confidentiality exists in arbitration. It seems that an agreement of the parties on confidentiality is the safest mean of protecting confidentiality. Regarding the scope of their duty, it is primarily up to the parties to cover in their agreement if and to what extent various arbitral materials are covered. Only in a few countries is the scope expressly regulated. Concerning the limits, the parties may cover them in their confidentiality agreement. However, even if the parties do not address the limits and the limits are not governed by national arbitration laws, relevant case law or arbitral rules, the parties’ duty to maintain confidentiality over the arbitral materials cannot be absolute. Public interest represents one of the limits to the confidentiality duty over arbitral materials which will be at stake especially in the cases where a public actor is a party. In assessing public interest, the interest in preserving the confidentiality of arbitral proceedings and the other public interest considerations should be balanced. |
| Related projects: |