Legal Regime of Confidentiality Protection in the Mediation Process and Its Meaning

The work is dedicated to a specific legal regime of confidentiality protection in the mediation process. To this end, not only the scope of the concept of confidentiality is explored, but also the peculiarities of its protection in mediation and in court. Legislative news and the standards recognized by the law “on mediation” are analyzed in this context. It is noteworthy, that due to several factors mediation becomes especially attractive for business in pandemic conditions: unlike hearing the case in court, mediation is a fast, cheap, calm, flexible, and effective dispute resolution process aimed at maintaining the current relationship between the parties through mediation confidentiality. Given the confidentiality of the mediation process, the parties have a legitimate expectation that the information they disclose will remain confidential. It is confidentiality that empowers the trust of the parties towards mediation. At the same time, analysis of the law reveals that confidentiality is not absolute during mediation and it may be restricted in certain exceptional cases. Taking into account European experience and the obligations under the Association Agreement in Georgia was accepted the law “on mediation” in which it was formed exceptional cases of confidentiality restrictions. Moreover, disclosure of confidential information is considered justified in exceptional cases if the preconditions established by law are met. It is advisable to evaluate the given cases as carefully and individually as possible. In this way, it will be ensured that the restriction of confidentiality, on the one hand directly affects the areas defined by law, and on the other hand, as a result of its misinterpretation will not lead to the extension of the exception to the restriction and thus violate confidentiality