The Research On Confidentiality In Commercial Arbitration

Confidentiality has long been one of the characteristics and advantages of commercial arbitration compared to litigation.This advantage originates from the private nature of arbitration,which entitles parties in an arbitration to determine the rules and procedure by themselves.The similarity and cohesiveness between “privacy” and “confidentiality” caused the two concepts being treated as the same for a long time.However,practices in several jurisdictions in recent years showed a trend to differentiate privacy and confidentiality to a high level.Scholars are more used to address the difference between the two.Basically,confidentiality restricts parties to an arbitration to disclose information to third parties,while privacy focuses on preventing third parties,i.e.parties not to the arbitration agreement,from entering into the arbitration.Considering the rapid development of arbitration in mainland China and Hong Kong,this paper intends to explore the ways mainland China and Hong Kong adopt in treating arbitration confidentiality,by analyzing the legislation,major institution arbitration rules and relevant cases from both legislative and practical angles,aiming to provide an Asian perspective and experience for the development of confidentiality theory in international study.