ABSTRACT
Confidentiality is one of the most valued features of London arbitration. Litigation ordinarily involves a public hearing and third parties will have access to court documents whereas the privacy of arbitration enables the parties to avoid their disputes becoming known to competitors, clients or the public. The Arbitration Act 1996 does not include any statutory principles of confidentiality because the drafters considered that it was a difficult area which could be better resolved by the courts on a pragmatic case by case basis. Similar considerations will apply where a party seeks to disclose documents generated in one arbitration in other proceedings between the same parties. Awards deserve particular consideration because they are the sort of document most commonly disclosed to third parties and they are treated differently from other documents generated in an arbitration. The rules favour privacy on grounds of respecting the parties’ choice of private arbitration. The normal remedy for breach of confidence is an injunction restraining disclosure.
