In English legal proceedings, a confidentiality club (also known as confidentiality ring) is an agreement occasionally reached by parties to a

litigation - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

to reduce the risk of

confidential Confidentiality involves a set of rules or a promise usually executed through confidentiality agreements that limits the access or places restrictions on certain types of information. Legal confidentiality By law, lawyers are often required ...

documents being used outside the litigation. The agreement typically provides that only specified persons can access some documents. Setting up a confidentiality club "requires some degree of cooperation between the parties". Confidentiality rings or clubs were described in 2012 as being increasingly common; the case report on Roche Diagnostics Ltd. v

Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust runs Pontefract Hospital, Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield and Dewsbury and District Hospital and community health services in Wakefield, all in West Yorkshire, England. It has been under financial pressur ...

, a

public procurement Government procurement or public procurement is the procurement of goods, services and works on behalf of a public authority, such as a government agency. Amounting to 12 percent of global GDP in 2018, government procurement accounts for a sub ...

dispute, also notes that they are "common in cases of this kind", and allow for specific disclosure of documents without causing the "difficulty relating to confidentiality" which would otherwise arise.England and Wales High Court (Technology and Construction Court)
Roche Diagnostics Ltd v The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust
EWHC 933 (TCC), paragraphs 9, 10 and 30, delivered 19 April 2013, accessed 31 December 2022

References

Information sensitivity Law of the United Kingdom {{UK-law-stub