The Professional Secret, Confidentiality and Legal Profession ...

THE UK
recognised as a specific legal concept in all the states
of the Six, there are major differences and less important
nuances in the law and procedure. Quite apart from the
differences between the Six and the UK, it is apparent that
no "approximation of laws" within the EEC could take place
without a radical alteration of the law in one or more of
the Six states. To take only one example, the single word
'unbefugt' (without authorisation) which appears in the
German Penal Code creates a major difference between the
laws of Germany and France as to who is "maitre du secret".
This point must be emphasised in the context of the Nine because
there is a tendency to emphasise the similarities within the
Six and the differences between the Six and the UK. The
differences between the Six and the UK are differences of
approach or method (made necessary by their fundamentally
different legal systems) rather than differences of result.
In terms of result, the law of Germany is at least as close
to the law of the UK as it is to the law of France.
29. In the UK, as on the continent, there is a distinction between
the rules of law and the rules of professional conduct. All
the Bars and Law Societies of the UK and Ireland recognise
the basic principle of professional conduct that a lawyer
should not disclose information which has become known to
him in his professional capacity. In this respect, therefore,
there is no difference between the professional rules which
apply to lawyers on the continent and those which apply in the
UK and Ireland. But the law or circumstances may require
the UK lawyer to disclose information either because the
communication in question is not "privileged" in the legal
sense /
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