Confidentiality in arbitrations
‘The conduct of arbitrations is private. That is implicit in the agreement to arbitrate. That does not mean that the arbitration is private for all purposes. Prior to the modern arbitration legislation some of the most important cases in the law of contract or in the conflict of laws were decided in the context of cases stated by arbitrators for determination by the court… Today there is an increasing trend for the privacy of arbitrations to be protected. That is illustrated by the rules in CPR Part 62 and the Practice Direction allowing arbitration claims to be heard in private and restricting (but not prohibiting) access to the court file by strangers to the arbitration. But even under the modern law since the 1996 Act there will still be cases where the details of an arbitral dispute may become public… Case law over the last 20 years has established that there is an obligation, implied by law and arising out of the nature of arbitration, on both parties not to disclose or use for any other purpose any documents prepared for and used in the arbitration, or disclosed or produced in the course of the arbitration, or transcripts or notes of the evidence in the arbitration or the award, and not to disclose in any other way what evidence has been given by any witness in the arbitration. The obligation is not limited to commercially confidential information in the traditional sense…’per Lawrence Collins LJ in Emmott v Michael Wilson & Partners Ltd [2008] EWCA Civ 184.
Categories: Chapter 3, Updates