Diales Compendium Issue 3 - Flipbook - Page 8
“1782”
What is all the fuss about?
Hamish Lal
Partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
The international arbitration world went into overdrive earlier this Summer when the
US Supreme Court handed down a decision that effectively reduced access to socalled “1782 disclosure”. Thus, in this article, we explain what is the so-called “1782
disclosure”, look at how it was used in international arbitration, and assess what if
anything is left unresolved by the U.S. jurisprudence.
Section 1782 Explained
Title 28 of the United States Code, Section 1782 headed “Assistance to foreign and international tribunals and to litigants
before such tribunals” enables a party to a legal proceeding outside the United States to apply to an American district court
with competent jurisdiction in order to obtain documents and evidence for use in the foreign proceeding. The pertinent portion
of the text reads as follows:
(a)The district court of the district in which a person resides or is found may order him to give his testimony or
statement or to produce a document or other thing for use in a proceeding in a foreign or international tribunal,
including criminal investigations conducted before formal accusation. The order may be made pursuant to a letter
rogatory issued, or request made, by a foreign or international tribunal or upon the application of any interested
person and may direct that the testimony or statement be given, or the document or other thing be produced, before
a person appointed by the court. […]
In short, Section 1782 empowers a U.S. district court to order a person who either “resides” or “is found” in the court’s district
to “give his testimony or statement or to produce a document or other thing for use in a proceeding in a foreign or international
tribunal”.
8