Suppression and non-publication orders in civil litigation

There is an embedded constitutional and public interest in the impartial administration of justice. Court proceedings must be conducted transparently and be accessible to public and professional scrutiny, circumventing the opportunity for special treatment for selected litigants. To this end, normally court proceedings are held in public and are available for reporting. There are, however, important exceptions. Confidentiality is sometimes necessary in the interests of justice. The court may impose confidentiality to protect intellectual property, trade secrets or commercial confidences, or to prevent unnecessary disclosure of information amongst trade rivals. The public character of court proceedings should not be such as to deter access to the court to assert or defend a legal entitlement.