Exposing Confidentiality Of Tribunal's Deliberations

The Singapore International Commercial Court (“SICC”) recently declined an order requiring the Tribunal to disclose its deliberations. It was held that interests of justice of the case do not outweigh the policy reasons for protecting the confidentiality of deliberations (see CZT v CZU [2023] SGHC(I) 11).

This case underlines the high threshold required to be met by an applicant seeking the production of a tribunal's records. It also highlights the willingness of the courts to intervene if the allegations of impartiality are “very serious in nature” and have “real prospects of succeeding”.

In this case, the plaintiff contracted with the defendant to deliver certain items that included materials, machinery and equipment. The defendant asserted that the plaintiff had breached its contractual obligations as certain components of the items delivered were found to be defective. As such, the defendant commenced arbitral proceedings against the plaintiff under