# Council Decision (EU) 2019/1954 of 18 November 2019 establishing the position to be adopted, on behalf of the European Union, in the EPA Committee set up by the Interim Agreement with a view to an Economic Partnership Agreement between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the Central Africa Party, of the other part, in connection with the adoption of the rules of procedure for mediation, the rules of procedure for arbitration and the code of conduct for arbitrators, Article 7: Confidentiality and relationship to dispute settlement

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

1. All information relating to the mediation proceeding must remain confidential, unless its disclosure is required by law or required for the implementation or performance of the agreement resulting from the mediation.
2. Unless the Parties agree otherwise, and without prejudice to Article 4(6) of these rules of procedure, all steps in the proceeding, including any advice or proposed solutions, shall be kept confidential. However, either Party may disclose to the public that mediation is taking place. The obligation of confidentiality does not extend to factual information already existing in the public domain.
3. The mediation proceeding is without prejudice to the Parties' rights and obligations under the provisions of the Agreement on dispute settlement or in any other relevant agreement.
4. The Parties shall not be required to undertake consultations before initiating the mediation proceeding. However, a Party should in principle apply the other relevant cooperation or consultation provisions of the Agreement before initiating the mediation proceeding.
5. A Party shall not rely on the following elements, or introduce them as evidence in the framework other dispute settlement proceedings under the Agreement or any other agreement, nor shall an arbitration panel take into consideration:
(a) positions taken by the other Party in the course of the mediation proceeding or information gathered under Articles 4(1) and (2) of these rules of procedure;
(b) the fact that the other Party has indicated its willingness to accept a solution to the measure subject to mediation; or
(c) advice given or proposals made by the mediator.
6. Unless the Parties agree otherwise, a mediator may not be a member of an arbitration panel in the framework of dispute settlement proceedings under the Agreement or under the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement involving the same matter for which he or she has been a mediator.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudn/2019/1954/annex/I/article/7 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2019-1954/annex-I/article-7
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.