UPC Court of Appeal: Procedural Decision: Protection of Confidentiality

The appellant filed a new piece of evidence in the appeal proceedings as "highly confidential" (HC). The appellant requested confidential treatment from the public pursuant to R. 262.2 RoP, but did not file an accompanying application under R. 262A RoP to restrict access for the opposing party. Only an application under R. 262A RoP gives the Court the power to restrict the use of confidential information by the opposing party and its representatives. Without an explicit application, the Court will not treat a document as potentially confidential within the meaning of R. 262A RoP, even if it was uploaded with the HC code. As blocking access via the HC code without a simultaneous application under R. 262A RoP has no legal basis and contradicts the legitimate interest of the opposing party in immediate access, the Court will routinely change the code to "M" in such cases to ensure immediate availability for the other parties to the proceedings (UPC 26.1.2026, CoA 917/2025).