CAT/C/46/2 those who have supported and facilitated it. One lesson learned from this work is that contact during the period leading up to the designation of an NPM and in its early days of operation is most often wanted by both States parties and NPMs and is likely to have the greatest positive impact on the construction of an NPM system which conforms to the provisions of the Optional Protocol. 45. The Subcommittee is tending towards a model by which it would seek to visit States parties as soon as possible following their ratification of the Optional Protocol, in order to offer advice and assistance regarding the establishment of its NPM. Such visits, which would be undertaken as an addition to its current regular programme, need not necessarily include visits to places of detention and so could be of a shorter duration. The Subcommittee also believes that the operation of an effective NPM could be a factor to be taken into account when determining whether to undertake a longer visit. C. Reflections on the role of confidentiality in the work of the Subcommittee 46. Article 2, paragraph 3, of the Optional Protocol provides, inter alia, that the Subcommittee “shall be guided by the principles of confidentiality”. Confidentiality lies at the heart of the philosophy underlying the Optional Protocol, which is that it is possible to engage in a constructive dialogue on matters as sensitive as those relating to torture, cruel and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, through the establishment of a relationship founded upon mutual trust, and that confidentiality provides a means of building that relationship. The Subcommittee scrupulously observes the principle of confidentiality in order to help foster such a spirit of constructive engagement. It is the belief of the Subcommittee that the confidentiality of the person and of personal data must always be maintained. 47. As it clear from the Optional Protocol itself, however, confidentiality is a means to an end and may be dispensed with by the State, should it wish to do so, by authorizing the publication of Subcommittee reports and recommendations. While recognizing and respecting the right of States to maintain the confidentiality of reports, the Subcommittee welcomes their publication as a tangible sign of the maturing relationship between it and the State party in their common pursuit of prevention. The Subcommittee believes that the publication of reports significantly enhances their preventive impact by making them available to a wider audience who may then be better placed to share in the task of prevention by either encouraging or facilitating the consideration and implementation of the recommendations that the reports contain. Moreover, the Subcommittee is directly empowered under the Optional Protocol to release, in confidence, elements of its visit reports to the NPM of a State party, should it consider this appropriate, and has done so. 48. Confidentiality is attached to the information obtained during the course of a visit and the reports and recommendations transmitted to a State party thereafter unless and until it is lifted by the State concerned, or through the issuance of a public statement as provided for in the Optional Protocol. It follows therefrom that, while fully respecting the principal of confidentiality as provided for in the Optional Protocol, the Subcommittee does not consider either its activities or the approaches that it takes to its work to be confidential as such, and welcomes the opportunity to make them known as widely known as possible. In that context, in 2010, the Subcommittee decided to publish its rules of procedure and its guidelines in relation to visits to States parties. GE.11-40683 13