What is the test for producing documents containing confidential and commercially confidential information?

In cases like the one before me, parties are understandably concerned about producing documents containing confidential and commercially sensitive information. The first protection against the misuse of this type of information is the implied undertaking of confidentiality. The implied undertaking is a common law rule that requires parties “to treat the documents and information they obtain through discovery as confidential, to be used only for the purpose of prosecuting or defending the action in which they are produced”: Larkin v. Johnson, 2019 BCSC 164 at para. 2.

In some circumstances, redaction may provide a further measure of protection for passages that contain private but clearly irrelevant information: Este v. Blackburn, 2016 BCCA 496 at para. 20. The present applications, however, deal with document disclosure, not the appropriateness of redactions. As a result, I did not receive detailed submissions from the parties on the topic of redaction. At this stage, I only say that nothing in my reasons or orders is intended to rule on or limit the parties’ right to redact disclosed documents in accordance with the prevailing authorities.