In economic relations and financial law, trade secrets form an important part of the assets of the economic actors. Disclosure of the scientific information causes serious damages to the owners of such information. As maintaining the confidentiality of the reservoirs information and technical issues is one of the terms and conditions contemplated under upstream oil and gas contracts, some questions arise here as follows. How, for what duration and to what extent should the scope of the confidentiality of the contracts, keeping the confidentiality, conditions and obligations of the parties for confidentiality in this contracts be? Is confidentiality recognized as a legal principle or is simply considered as one of the terms and conditions envisaged under the trade contracts? To answer such questions, the present descriptive-analytical research examined the domestic laws and regulations, international documents and regulations as well as the upstream oil and gas contracts. Seemingly, the scope of confidentiality under Iranian regulations both covers the provisions under a contract, including the reservoirs information and the well drilling, within the framework of a contract.

IPRs owners, especially inventors, from the creation of idea up to its commercialization are often faced with disclosure of confidential information delivered to third parties during license agreement negotiations. In fact, the main purpose of confidentiality agreements is to protect different types of IPRs including know-how, trade secrets, etc. with a view to prepare the background for proper and effective supervision and management of their exploitation. The use of non-disclosure agreements in high-tech sector, specifically for computer and internet companies is a common in license agreement negotiations. On the other hand, researchers and inventors in knowledge-based companies may be faced with challenges like disclosure of confidential information in the process of acquiring IPRs protection. The important point is the ignorance of many idea owners and inventors as to how such agreements are concluded. When delivering confidential information, non-disclosure agreement covers merely this information and is concluded for its protection before license agreement is concluded or during license agreement negotiations. Signing and entering into such agreements, without knowledge of laws and their characteristics, may cause dangerous and heavy obligations for parties. In this paper, with an analytic-descriptive approach, we define non-disclosure agreement, its necessity, function, types and common terms and conditions. The results of this paper indicate the necessity of delivering accurate and efficient information to IPRs owners regarding entering into confidentiality agreements and the need to modify the current legal structure in order to protect their rights.

Arbitration is a private justice for the settlement of disputes in the international trade. By reason of number of benefits، international traders prefer the arbitration in relation to the justice tosettle their disputes. Confidentiality is one of those benefits. Here، there are some questions: is there any source in international commercial judgment that indicates the confidentiality of judgment? And what are the scope & the sanction of this obligation? Comparative study of international commercial law shows that they don’t have unified approach for the existence or source of this obligation. In fact proving this obligation in the absence of explicit agreement between the beneficiaries is a major problem. Some legal systems، this obligation is denied. In this article، it’s attempted to demonstrate this obligation as an implicit condition of contract and to specify the sanction.

Confidentiality is an important component of criminal mediation. Without observing the principle of confidentiality of the mediation process, it is impossible to have a meaningful dialogue between the victim and the offender. If the mediation environment does not guarantee the principle of confidentiality, it may be up to the perpetrator and victim to not participate in the process, Therefore, ensuring the participation of the victim and the offender is one of the main reasons for the nature of the confidentiality of this process. The principle of confidentiality of the mediation process is recognized in international documents and treaties and in the laws of different countries. Most criminal mediation regulations have stated that this is a confidential process, but in some cases the information and conversations and documents presented may not be generalized or disclosed, or in some cases, the mediator has a duty to disclose it or maybe There is a conflict between the rules of confidentiality in the mediation process and other criminal and legal rules. Therefore, mediators should warn participants in mediation hearings that, other than the necessary information in the case, any acceptance of past crimes, such as confessions for offenses or threats of future offenses, may not be considered confidential and the court will use these evidences and grounds for subsequent proceedings.

One of the most important benefits of arbitration as a dispute resolution method is the preservation of confidential information of the disputing parties. Apart from the theoretical issues regarding the principle of confidentiality, its obligors and guaranteeing the implementation of the said principle, practical solutions for maintaining confidential information in arbitration should be considered because of the different demands and desires of parties, different arbitration institutions and arbitrators, variable trust of parties in the arbitrator, the different legal positions and the specific circumstances of each case, require that the various ways of enforcing the principle of confidentiality be identified for the parties and the arbitrators, and that practical solutions be offered to them in a flexible manner. In this article, an attempt has been made to study the existing solutions in this regard by analyzing the rules and procedures in arbitrations. There are several main strategies to protect confidential information in arbitration: "Strategies to restrict access to confidential information", "Strategies to prevent the disclosure of confidential information in the arbitration process" and "Strategies to prevent the disclosure of confidential information in arbitral award". Certainly, the conclusion of this article is not to prefer any of these strategies in the field of confidentiality in arbitration over another, and even the use of a combination of such methods can further meet the needs of the parties to the arbitration in terms of maintaining confidentiality. Finally, the present article concludes that limiting the access of arbitrator to the confidential information should not impede issuing fair award, and in this regard, it is suggested that important confidential information can be available to arbitrators or only the presiding arbitrator. Not mentioning evidence based on confidential information in the arbitral award is logical only to the extent that it does not make troubles in the stage of challenge, recognition and enforcement of the arbitral award. Restricting access to confidential information should not violate the right of the parties to the fair trial, and third-party intervention to prevent disclosure of information is possible only in exceptional cases, because the arbitrator himself/herself is generally considered an impartial and expert third party. The fundamental solution is that legislators and regulators of arbitration rules should seriously and in detail include practical solutions for the protection of confidential information in the mentioned regulations. At present, and before these changes are implemented, what is proposed is that these solutions can be preferably mentioned in the initial arbitration agreement or the terms of reference.

Bankers have access to private and sensitive financial information of their clients, due to the nature of their professions. So, legal systems consider that “secrecy” is a fundamental precept of the banks and customers relationship. In other words, they are subject to an obligation to keep their customers financial affairs confidential.In (English) common law jurisdiction, confidentiality is a contractual (or implied contractual) duty as well as statutory duties especially in relation with data protections.According to the Civil Law jurisdictions, such as the law of France, Switzerland, Germany, Egypt, Lebanon, and Iran, the duty of confidentiality arise, under the civil code or related statutes.The “secrecy” is not absolute: almost in all countries this duty has exceptions: anti money laundering laws observations, when disclosures is required in the interest of the bank, where according to banking ordinary operation, exchange of information and data about the client’s credit, between the banks is usual and necessary for being ensured about banking operation, and the like. Due to the importance of this duty, any breach of confidentiality has penal and civil sanctions. Thses sanctions are different in legal systems and in different countries.In securitization transactions, serial parties such as SPV, rating agencies, liquidity provider’s trustees and servicing agents, may need potentially confidential information concerning the financial assets and loans. Sometimes, it is necessary for them to have access to the documents relating to the receivables. This contradiction is one of the main questions about the securitization of banking receivables that must be solved. The ideal way is to obtain the underling debtor’s consent about data transferring; obtaining of debtor's consent is very complicated and hard work to do.Another alternative is to amend forms and contracts which banks uses in relation with their customers. Finally, the best alternative is that securitization of transactions to be excluded from confidentiality duties, by legislation.

Today, the confidentiality or, conversely, the openness of commercial arbitration in recent years has become one of the most controversial issues in the legal forums and judicial procedures of the courts of different countries. One of the advantages of arbitration over court proceedings is its private nature and closure, which means that the litigants, unlike the litigants in their courts, choose the method and manner of resolving disputes, and in most cases they are arbitrators or The judges are selected and appointed to this task. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to investigate the confidentiality of arbitration and its necessity in international trade. The present study was conducted by descriptive-analytical method. There is a close and close relationship between the litigants and the members of the arbitral tribunal. For this reason, it is said that hearings and hearings of the jury are private and usually only those who have agreed to the litigation will be allowed to attend. The findings of the present study show that the confidentiality of arbitration is accepted as a principle in domestic and international courts in most countries. The denial of the obligation of confidentiality of arbitration by some governmental judicial authorities has caused some arbitration laws in different legal systems to explicitly state the implicit condition of confidentiality of arbitration. Failure to comply with this obligation by unauthorized committed persons may result in civil and criminal warranties, as the case may be.