Most OECD jurisdictions protect the confidentiality of the relationship between a client and its attorney, and grant parties in competition proceedings the right to resist disclosure of protected information to public bodies and third parties. Legal professional privilege is a corollary of the rights of defence and privacy. The level and modalities of privilege differ from one jurisdiction to another, depending on the balance in each jurisdiction between the public interest in searching for evidence of competition law violations, and the parties’ right to seek and obtain effective legal advice and representation.
The different approaches to legal professional privilege among jurisdictions create challenges regarding companies’ international operations, and authorities’ co-operation and sharing of information in cross-border cases involving jurisdictions offering dissimilar levels of protection.
In November 2018, the OECD held a discussion on the treatment of privileged information in competition proceedings. All related materials for the discussion are available on this page.
