Confidentiality

Section 22 of the Mediation Act, 2023 deals with confidentiality. Subject to the other provisions of this Act, the mediator, mediation service provider, the parties and participants in the mediation shall keep confidential all the following matters relating to the mediation proceedings, namely: -- (i) acknowledgements, opinions, suggestions, promises, proposals, a The Act came into force on 09 Oct 2023.

(1) Subject to the other provisions of this Act, the mediator, mediation service provider, the parties and participants in the mediation shall keep confidential all the following matters relating to the mediation proceedings, namely: --

(i) acknowledgements, opinions, suggestions, promises, proposals, apologies and admissions made during the mediation;

(ii) acceptance of, or willingness to, accept proposals made or exchanged in the mediation;

(iii) documents prepared solely for the conduct of mediation or in relation thereto;

(iv) any other mediation communication.

(2) No audio or video recording of the mediation proceedings shall be made or maintained by the parties or the participants including the mediator and mediation service provider, whether conducted in person or online to ensure confidentiality of the conduct of mediation proceedings.

(3) No party to the mediation shall in any proceeding before a court or tribunal including arbitral tribunal, rely on or introduce as evidence any information or communication set forth in clauses (i) to (iv) of sub-section (1), including any information in electronic form, or verbal communication and the court or tribunal including arbitral tribunal shall not take cognizance of such information or evidence.

(4) The provisions of this section shall not prevent the mediator from compiling or disclosing general information concerning matters that have been subject of mediation, for research, reporting or training purposes, if the information does not expressly or indirectly identify a party or participants or the specific disputes in the mediation.

Explanation.---For the removal of doubts, it is hereby clarified that nothing contained in this section shall apply to the mediated settlement agreement where its disclosure is necessary for the purpose of registration, enforcement and challenge.

Section 22, The Mediation Act, 2023 (Act 32 of 2023).