DOCA.7:4.3 - Agree participation, information use, and disclosure

Make the service and its limits understandable to the person whose participation is required. Establish the applicable consent or other legitimate participation basis, what information will be obtained, its intended use, who may receive it, and relevant confidentiality limits. Keep voluntary participation, mandated service, assent, and authority to act for another person distinct when the case requires them.

Specify what the sponsor receives and what remains within the advising relationship. Do not promise unconditional secrecy where applicable duties require disclosure, or assume that payment permits disclosure. A change in purpose or audience requires its own applicable basis; an earlier agreement does not silently cover every later use.

Use only the information needed for the bounded service. If a decisive premise cannot be disclosed to a recipient, explain the resulting reliance restriction without exposing the protected content. A qualified summary may support a bounded return without releasing raw assessment material. If the permissible explanation cannot support the requested reliance, return the narrower question or blocker; do not ask the recipient to treat an unexplained preference as a warranted recommendation.

When the client declines an optional assessment or service, explain the resulting scope and limits without converting refusal into an adverse factual judgement about capability. Follow any actual professional or legal duties that remain; the declined step is not permission to improvise the missing result.