The Tension between Transparency and Confidentiality in International Arbitrations

The present research study intends to investigate the concepts of transparency, confidentiality and privacy within the scope of Investor-State Arbitration and International Commercial Arbitration.Transparency, confidentiality and privacy are the main pillars of international arbitration which have a close relationship together, however in some cases they are in a controversial situation. The tension between confidentiality and transparency comes into existence when the issue of public interest plays the main role in international arbitration. In such situations, private interest of individual parties, involving confidentiality and privacy, conflicts with the interest of general public, involving openness of the arbitration proceedings and access to all documents concerned. Then it becomes important to know how to make a balance between these competing concepts, what their value is and how their relationship is in controversial situations of international arbitration. For this purpose, the first Part of the paper intends to define some key terms such as “confidentiality,” “privacy” and “transparency” related to international arbitration. The second Part challenges the issues of Transparency and Confidentiality in the context of International Commercial Arbitration and Investor-State Arbitration. The third part concludes by analyzing how to make an equilibrium between transparency and confidentiality in controversial situations of international arbitration including Investor-State Arbitration and International Commercial Arbitration.