§ 172.112.Hearing or Meeting in Camera

Privacy, stated as a duty rather than a permission.

Hearings and meetings are held in camera. The tribunal shall do so, except as agreed by the parties.

In camera means closed. The proceeding is not open to the public.

Privacy is one of the reasons commercial parties choose arbitration. A dispute over a joint venture or a licence can expose pricing, technology and strategy that a public trial would put on the record.

The default direction matters. Litigation is public unless a court seals it; this arbitration is private unless the parties open it.

The parties may agree otherwise, and in disputes involving public entities there are reasons they might.

Privacy of the hearing is not the same as confidentiality of everything. This section closes the room; it does not by itself impose a duty of secrecy on the participants afterward.

Conciliation gets an express confidentiality rule. Section 172.206 makes what is said in a conciliation inadmissible and undiscoverable in an arbitration or civil action.

Court involvement can affect privacy. An application to a court under Chapter 171’s Subchapter D is a public filing, which is one cost of seeking judicial help.