As a significant financial centre, it is not surprising that the
Cayman Islands has a dedicated Arbitration
Act,1 nor that this Act provides for arbitrations
which have their seat in the Cayman Islands to be confidential,
consistent with arbitration laws in many other jurisdictions.
However, the breadth of the information deemed to be confidential
under the Cayman Islands Act may be surprising to parties who are
familiar with arbitration in other jurisdictions.
Section 81(1) of the Arbitration Act provides that "An
arbitral tribunal shall conduct the arbitral proceedings in private
and confidentially". Section 81(2) then provides that
disclosure by the arbitral tribunal or a party of
"confidential information relating to the arbitration"
shall be actionable as a breach of an obligation of confidence
unless the disclosure meets one of several criteria (addressed
below).
