disclosure statement

The disclosure statement is used in UK litigation to certify that the person giving disclosure understands their obligations to disclose relevant documents, to set out the extent of the search made by the party, and that the party has to the best of their knowledge carried out their duty to disclose documents.

A disclosure statement is served with a disclosure list (which must be in the prescribed form) and sets out:

1. the extent of the search made, including the locations searched
2. the earliest date of documents that were searched for
3. the categories of the documents searched for
4. whether or not electronic documents were searched for
5. if electronic documents were searched for, what was searched
6. limitations of the search conducted, and why those limitations are said to be reasonable
7. a certification that the duty to disclose is understood
8. that the party disclosing has to the best of their knowledge carried out the duty to disclose documents that may affect the case of a party to the proceedings.

Usage: The defendant signed the disclosure statement in order to serve the disclosure list.

Related Words: disclosure; collateral undertaking; specific disclosure; Civil Procedure Rules; litigation; disclosure list; litigation; pleadings; particulars of claim; defence: litigation; expert evidence; lay evidence.