Abstract

Trade remedy investigations require competent authorities to collect, analyze, and verify commercially sensitive data concerning prices, costs, production, and trade relationships. This article examines the balance between interested parties’ right of access to information, their opportunity to present and challenge evidence, and the obligation to protect confidential information. Using doctrinal and comparative legal analysis, it examines the WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement, the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, the Agreement on Safeguards, Vietnam’s 2017 Law on Foreign Trade Management, and Decree No. 86/2025/ND-CP. The article distinguishes confidential information from trade secrets and the protection of confidentiality from the verification of evidentiary value. It proposes a two-tier system of public and confidential files, meaningful non- confidential summaries, and auditable procedures for handling digital evidence. Transparency does not require the complete disclosure of commercially sensitive data; equally, confidentiality should not deprive interested parties of a meaningful opportunity to respond to essential facts.

Keywords: Access to information, evidence, investigations, trade remedies, trade secrets.