3.3.2 Breach of the confidentiality of deliberations under Article 20 RDR

Article 20, second sentence, RDR provides that the deliberations of the disciplinary bodies “shall be confidential”. In D 1/22, the DBA disagreed with the appellant’s contention that the Disciplinary Committee had violated the confidentiality of deliberations by indicating in the contested decision that the decision had been taken by unanimity, and that this constituted a substantial procedural violation. According to the DBA, the indication merely ruled out any disagreement among the members and did not convey any further information on the actual deliberations. In any case, there was no causal link between the announcement and the decision itself. Therefore, even if there was a procedural violation, it was not a substantial procedural violation that would justify remitting the case for further prosecution.