id: chatham-house-rule
title: Chatham House Rule
description: >-
  A confidentiality protocol for meetings, under which participants are
  free to use information received but may not reveal the identity or
  affiliation of the speaker. Originating at the Royal Institute of
  International Affairs (Chatham House) in London in 1927.
source: Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House)
source_url: https://www.chathamhouse.org/about-us/chatham-house-rule
tags: [confidentiality, meetings, dialogue, trust]
forked_from: null
image: null
steps:
  - headline: Declare the rule
    description: >-
      The convenor states at the opening that the meeting is held under the
      Chatham House Rule, and reads or summarises the rule for those
      unfamiliar.
  - headline: Participants speak freely
    description: >-
      Participants speak knowing that what they say may be reported, but not
      who said it. This frees those in official roles to speak personally.
  - headline: Use information, not identity
    description: >-
      After the meeting, anyone may use the information they heard, but must
      not disclose the identity or affiliation of any speaker, nor describe
      them in ways that would identify them.
  - headline: Hold each other accountable
    description: >-
      Participants are expected to uphold the rule themselves. Breaches are
      taken seriously as they undermine the trust on which the form depends.
outcome: >-
  Participants share information and views more openly than they would on
  the record, while protecting speakers from attribution.
practice: >-
  The rule is a discipline, not a default. State it explicitly when it
  applies. Some meetings use a stronger variant — no reporting at all —
  which is not the Chatham House Rule.