[LINK] Commercial-in-Confidence

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

Linkers,

I have a question regarding 'commercial-in-confidence'.

Today, in a net-based educational forum, one member asked how much other
schools paying for a particular service from one particular supplier and
were quickly told by a forum member that that information was Commercial
in Confidence. The information requested was only the costs schools were
charged by this company. It didn't entail any special commercial-secrets
which might harm that company if made public. (Eg, product secret-sauce).

In this day of wide communications, the request seemed, imho, reasonable,
(possibly saving the Australian tax-payer thousands of dollars for every
school) and the "Commercial-in-Confidence" clauses in the sales contract
seems anti-competitive. There is other such companies/services available.

So my question. What is the legality of Commercial-in-Confidence clauses
regarding product/service price in sale contracts for schools / anywhere?

Such clauses could offer the potential for huge commercial rip-offs imho,
and in this day of wide professional sub-set communications it does seem
unfair to prohibit professionals comparing prices of different suppliers.

Cheers,
Stephen