Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Confidential information definition

What does Confidential information mean? In legal practice, confidential information is information not in the public domain that is protected because it was given in confidence or because disclosure is prohibited by statute or court order. It underpins duties in NDAs, employment and trade secrets protection, and is enforced through the common law of breach of confidence, typically by injunctions and damages. For local authorities in England and Wales, section 100A(3) of the Local Government Act 1972 defines confidential information for council meetings and papers as: information supplied by a government department on terms forbidding public disclosure; and information whose public disclosure is prohibited by...

Managing Confidential Information in Civil Litigation: Disclosure, Inspection, Admissibility, Limited-Purpose Use, Covert Evidence and Confidentiality Rings (England and Wales)

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Practice notes

This Practice Note examines the status and deployment of Confidential information in civil proceedings, covering what amounts to confidential information, how it can be safeguarded, and the circumstances in which Confidentiality may be lost. It also considers disclosure duties concerning confidential material, methods to protect such material from disclosure, inspection and citation in open court, disclosure for restricted purposes, confidentiality rings, reliance on confidential and covertly obtained information, receipt of confidential material by mistake, and the friction with other jurisdictions’ Disclosure rules.

What is confidential information?

Information regarded as confidential includes:

personal (or private) information
trade secrets
journalistic, artistic or literary confidences
government secrets
court-ordered settlement agreements requiring non-disclosure
information specifically identified by contract as restricted
password-protected email accounts
documents generated within the solicitor–client relationship (Anderson v Bank of British Columbia)
documents that may be relevant to criminal proceedings either ongoing or expected in the future

Note that although all privileged material must be confidential, not all confidential information is privileged. For more on legal professional privilege, see Practice Note: Legal professional privilege in civil proceedings. Confidentiality does...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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