Global markets offer a multitude of business opportunities and,

as a consequence, cross-border activities and international trade

have become the norm. This shift towards multi-jurisdictional

business transactions has resulted in an increase in international

disputes. Rules of evidence, on the other hand, including evidentiary

privileges, have been conceived for proceedings in local

courts and are not adjusted to international disputes submitted

to arbitration.

In addition, arbitration laws and arbitration rules do not provide

any guidance on how arbitral tribunals should deal with evidentiary

privileges, although rules of evidentiary privilege can vary

considerably throughout the world. For example, common law

jurisdictions, which generally provide for extensive disclosure, will

usually contain highly developed and varied evidentiary privilege

rules, while civil law jurisdictions, where disclosure is limited, will

afford less protection to evidentiary privileges.

The purpose of this book is to review the evidentiary privileges

existing under English, American, Swiss and French law that are

the most likely to be invoked in arbitration, to determine which

laws govern evidentiary privileges in international arbitration and,

finally, to determine whether there exists a preponderance of practice

suggesting that certain evidentiary privileges could develop

into transnational rules in international arbitration.