A/HRC/42/41 business information or trade secrecy regarding toxic substances and possible exposures can deprive workers of their human rights, including to safe and healthy working conditions and access to remedies. Illegitimate claims of confidentiality and secrecy involving health and safety information can mask problems and thereby stifle innovative research on products and processes to improve occupational health, while promoting a sense of impunity that can become contagious among business enterprises that continue to exploit and abuse workers by exposing them to toxic substances, and justify deriving benefits from doing so.55 61. The question of the treatment of confidential information is pertinent in the domain of occupational safety and health because of the importance of information in preventive and protective measures, as well as providing access to remedies (see principle 12). States have a duty to ensure that claims that information on toxic substances is confidential business information or a trade secret are legitimate. 56 While confidentiality of personal medical histories must be ensured, they must not be used to obscure health problems arising in the workplace. 62. All health and safety information held by public bodies and business enterprises should be subject to disclosure, unless it falls within a narrow set of public-interest limitations such as the protection of privacy or public health. 57 It is never legitimate for States or businesses to refuse to disclose health and safety information on the grounds that it is confidential, particularly on the grounds that it would adversely affect profits or competitiveness.58 To this end, international agreements on toxic chemicals have repeatedly stipulated that health and safety information about toxic substances shall not be regarded as confidential.59 States should ensure that criminal sanctions are applicable to businesses and other actors that fail to disclose health and safety information. 60 63. Employers and suppliers of chemical substances should clearly state in their policies that they will not keep health and safety information secret from, for example, the State, workers and their families, workers’ representatives, employers whose workers may be exposed and affected communities. They should rigorously implement such policies. Principle 10 – The right to safe and healthy work is inseparable from freedom of association, the right to organize and the right to collective bargaining. Commentary 64. Workers defending their right to safe and healthy work, among other rights, find strength in numbers. Strong protections for the right to organize, including the formation of unions, the right to freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, have proven effective in strengthening protections for workers from exposure to toxic substances as well as other risks. 65. Freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining are recognized by ILO as two fundamental principles and rights of work, applying to all people in all States regardless of the level of economic development. 61 Without freedom of association, including the freedom to form unions, and the right to collective bargaining workers stand little chance of defending their right to safe and healthy work and other human rights. For human rights obligations to be met and the objective of 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 14 A/HRC/39/48 and Corr.1, para. 65. A/HRC/30/40. Ibid., paras. 38 and 101 (b). Ibid., para. 42. Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, art. 9; and Minamata Convention on Mercury, art. 17. See also Dubai Declaration on International Chemicals Management. A/HRC/39/48 and Corr.1, para. 28. ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (1998). See Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention, 1948 (No. 87) and Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).