The Act provides explicit, broad, and mandatory protection of confidentiality. The statutory definitions are an important part of confidentiality protection. The neutral must be involved in the communication. Involvement of the neutral in the communication is required for confidentiality protection. The Act protects communications only between the neutral and the parties because the confidentiality of those communications is perceived as a key to successful dispute resolution.
Voluntary disclosure requires prior written permission.
Improperly disclosed communications are not admissible. The Act provides protection against abuses of confidentiality protection. FOIA allows agency records to be made available to the public on request. The original ADR Act in 1990 made no exemption for dispute resolution cases. There are no established ethical standards for dispute resolution program administrators, so they must also adhere to the standards set for mediators until such administrator standards are developed.