Source: Politika
It is envisaged by the Data Classification Bill that only persons who underwent security check of the Security Information Agency will be able to use secret information. Order could finally be introduced in the area of information which the state proclaims a secret by the Data Classification Bill submitted to the Serbian Assembly, taking into account that it is at the moment regulated by a whole “forest“ of legal provisions which results in inadequate protection of such information. It can be concluded by simple adding up of these regulations that the work of government bodies, public services, military and the police, as well as of public enterprises and institutions is often unnecessarily covered by a veil of secrecy. The Bill, in development of which Commissioner for Information of Public Importance Rodoljub `abi also participated, was supported by as many as 35,870 signatures of Serbian citizens.- The adoption of this Law by urgent procedure is necessary. Take, for example, the agreement on information safety which Minister of Defence Dragan `utanovac signed on behalf of the Serbian Government with NATO at the beginning of the month in Brussels. It turned out that Serbia has more classified information than the whole NATO - Mr. `abi said for Politika . He emphasized that Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Croatia had already adopted similar laws.
Under the bill of this law information can be labelled as secret only if it refers to the national safety, external affairs, intelligence and counter-intelligence activities of the state . According to the proposed classification, information can be labelled as state secret , top secret , confidential and internal secret depending on a degree of harm their unauthorized exposure could do to the state.
According to Mr. `abi, information labelled in this way in order to cover criminal offence and overstepping of authority or abuse of power could not be considered secret.
- Thus, for example, transcripts from sessions of the Yugoslav Army General Staff, which Vladan Vlajkovi published in the book Military Secret , could in no way be labelled as secret because it is evident that General Staff members committed criminal offences - Mr. `abi explained. Persons authorized for labelling information as state secret are president of Serbia, prime minister and president of the Parliament, presidents of the Constitutional and Supreme Courts, Republic public prosecutor, head of the General Staff, director of the Security Information Agency, as well as the ministers competent for national security, external affairs, intelligence and counter-intelligence activities of the state . Information from the economic sphere has been left out because of possible abuse and agreements such as the Concession Agreement on construction of Horgos-Pozega highway could not be proclaimed a secret , Mr. `abi said.
Information can cease to be secret in several ways: as of the date stated in a document containing a secret information, upon the occurrence of the event stated in a document, upon expiration of deadline set by the law (for state secret 15 years, for top secret 10 years, for confidential secret 5 years and for internal secret 2 years), as well as in the process of declassification which removes the label of secrecy from information. The law sets that users of secret information can be natural and legal persons from Serbia to whom the safety certificate , a document which implies obligatory security check of persons who want to access secret information, is issued.
Continued from the first page - The check can last from 30 to 180 days and it is performed by the SIA. The certificates can be obtained without previous security check by deputies, ministers, officials who manage administrative bodies within ministries, officials who manage special administrative organizations, as well as judges. Of course, a certain number of the top government officials, such as the president of the republic, prime minister and vice president of the government, presidents of the Parliament, Constitutional Court and Supreme Court, Republic public prosecutor, Ombudsman, Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and director and deputy director of the Directorate for Protection of Secret Information and Inspector General for Protection of Secret Information, can access secret information without security certificate.
- Founding of the directorate and service of inspector general for protection of secret information is a novelty and it is envisaged by the bill of this law. The director of the Directorate is chosen by the Government for the period of four years, while the inspector general is chosen by the Parliament on the proposal of the Security Board for the period of five years - Mr. `abi explained. According to him, the Directorate issues safety certificates and keeps their records, adopts the plan for protection of secret information, but it also keep the Central Register of Foreign Secret Information which the state receives in cooperation with other countries. The Inspector General monitors the implementation of this Law, orders actions for rectification of any shortcomings, declassifies secret information and he also establishes infringement liability and files petitions for institution of criminal proceedings for violations of provisions of this Law.
The Data Classification Bill also envisages a number of fines in the amount from 50,000 to 500,000 dinars for authorized persons who violate its provisions. To avoid any doubt, infringement liability for disclosing of state secret is regulated by the Criminal Code of Serbia and prison sentences for this criminal offence range from 1 to 10 years.
