New South Wales Consolidated Acts

CIVIL PROCEDURE ACT 2005 - SECT 18O

18O Disclosure and publication of information concerning mediation undertaken for the purposes of this Part

(1) In this section:
"mediation" means a meeting arranged for the mediation of a civil dispute to which this Part applies, and includes any steps taken in the course of making arrangements for the meeting or in the course of the follow-up of a meeting.

(2) The following provisions apply in relation to a mediation:

(a) evidence of anything said or of any admission made in the mediation is not admissible in any proceedings before any court or other body,

(b) a document prepared for the purposes of, or in the course of, or as a result of, the mediation, or any copy of such a document, is not admissible in evidence in any proceedings before any court or other body.

(3) Subsection (2) does not apply with respect to any evidence or document if:

(a) the persons in attendance at, or identified during, the mediation and, in the case of a document, all persons specified in the document, consent to the admission of the evidence or document, or

(b) the evidence is called to prove that an agreement or other arrangement has been reached as a result of a mediation and the substance of the agreement or arrangement.

(4) The same privilege with respect to defamation as exists with respect to judicial proceedings and a document produced in judicial proceedings exists with respect to:

(a) a mediation, or

(b) a document or other material sent to or produced to a mediator for the purpose of enabling a mediation to be arranged.

(5) The privilege conferred by subsection (4) extends only to a publication made:

(a) at a mediation, or

(b) in a document or other material sent to or produced to a mediator for the purpose of enabling a mediation to be arranged.