19/09/2019 HCMP2801/2015 THE UNIVERSITY 70. There OF HONG KONG v. HONG KONG COMMERCIAL BROADCASTING can be no real dispute that the information CO LTD AND ANOTHER in question, in particular any audio recording of meetings of the Council, is confidential to the University. The provisions of the Code of the Council set out above make that plain. The registrar’s affirmation stated that the confidentiality of Council’s meetings is of great importance to the University, and that the University has an interest in upholding the integrity of the decision-making process of its Council by allowing free discussions and exchange of views, opinions and thoughts and protecting the identities of those who are the subjects of discussions. 71. While the right to confidence is a private law right, there is a general public interest in upholding the duty of confidence. strong one. “There is a public That public interest is a interest of a high order in preserving confidentiality within an organisation”: per Griffiths LJ in Lion Laboratories Ltd v Evans [1985] 1 QB 526, 550G; “there is ... a very strong public interest in preserving confidentiality within any organisation, in order that it can operate efficiently”: per Lord Fraser in British Steel Corporation Granada Television Ltd {1981| AC 1096, 1202E. v In HRH Prince of Wales v Associated Newspapers Ltd |2008| Ch 57, §67, Lord Phillips CJ, delivering the judgment of the Court of Appeal, said: “There is an important public interest in the observance of duties of confidence. Those who engage employees, or who enter into other relationships that carry with them a duty of confidence, ought to be able to be confident that they can disclose, without risk of wider publication, information that it is legitimate for them to wish to keep confidential. ... Today the test is ... whether a fetter of the right of freedom of expression 1s, in the particular circumstances, ‘necessary in a democratic society’. It is a test of proportionality. But a significant element to be weighed in the balance is the importance in a democratic society of upholding duties of confidence that are created between individuals. It is not enough to justify publication that the information in question is a matter of public interest. To take an extreme example, the content of a budget speech is a matter of great public interest. But if a disloyal typist were to seek to sell a copy to a newspaper in advance of the delivery of the speech in Parliament, there can surely be no doubt that the newspaper would be in breach of duty if it purchased and published the speech.” 72. Given that the University is a leading institution of research and tertiary education in Hong Kong, there is an additional dimension of public interest in ensuring that its governing body can function properly in accordance with its own constitution and practice. https: //legalref.judiciary.hk/Irs/common/ju/ju_frame.jsp? DIS=101619&currpage=T 24/33