Is leaking the exam paper in the national high school exam a violation of disclosure of state secrets in Vietnam?

Is leaking the exam paper in the national high school exam a violation of disclosure of state secrets in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 1 of the Decision 809/QĐ-TTg in 2020 stipulating state secret of the second-degree top secret as follows:

1. Plans, action programs, reports, and accompanying documents of the Ministry of Education and Training on the implementation of the Party and State's policies on the development of education and training directly serving the security and defense strategy that have not been made public.

2. Official exam papers, reserve exam papers, official answer keys, and reserve answer keys of the high school graduation exams, national gifted student exams, and international and regional Olympic team selection exams that have not been made public.

3. Information about members of the Vietnam People's Army, the People's Public Security Force, and the Technical Unit who are sent to study in Vietnam and abroad needs to be protected according to the requirements of the sending party.

Pursuant to Clause 8 Article 7 of the Law on Protection of State Secrets in 2018 stiulating scope of state secrets as follows:

8. Education and training:

a) Questions and answers of national examinations and information concerning the organization thereof;

b) Information on personnel of the People’s Army, public security forces and cryptographer forces sent to attend domestic and overseas training;

Accordingly, the individual or organization, who leaked the English test in the national high school exam, was considered committing violation on disclosure of state secrets in Vietnam.

Violating individuals and organizations may be fined or more severely criminally prosecuted for disclosure of state secrets.

What are the fines for leaking the exam paper in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Clause 5 Article 15 of the Decree 79/2015/NĐ-CP stipulating violations against regulations on examinations and recognition of graduation as follows:

5. A fine of from VND 20,000,000 to VND 25,000,000 shall be imposed for revealing questions or losing exam topics.

Pursuant to Article 4 of the Decree 79/2015/NĐ-CP stipulating as follows:

1. The maximum fine for a violation against regulations on vocational education incurred by an individual is VND 75,000,000; that incurred by an organization is VND 150,000,000.

2. The fines in Chapter II of this Decree are applied to organizations, except for those in Clause 1 and Clause 2 Article 8; Clause 1, Points a, b, c, d, D Clause 2, Clause 3, Clause 4 and Clause 5 Article 15; Clauses 2, 3, 4 and 5 Article 17; Clause 1 Article 24; Clauses 1, 2 and 6 Article 25; Clause 1, Clause 2, Point a Clause 4 Article 26 of this Decree, which are applied to individuals.

The fine incurred by an organization is twice as much as the fine incurred by an individual for the same violation.

3. The maximum fines imposed by the persons mentioned in Chapter III of this Decree are incurred by individuals; the maximum fines they may impose upon organizations are twice as much as the fines incurred by individuals.

Therefore, individuals who leak the exam paper in the national high school exam will be fined from VND 20 million to VND 25 million. For organizations, the fine will be from VND 40 million to VND 50 million.

Is leaking the exam paper a criminal offense?

Pursuant to Article 337 of the Criminal Code in 2015 (amended by Clause 125 Article 1 of the Law on amendments to the Criminal Code in 2017) stipulating deliberate disclosure of classified information; appropriation, trading, destruction of classified documents or items as follows:

1. Any person who deliberately discloses, appropriates, deals in or destroys classified information or items, except in the circumstances specified in Article 110 hereof, shall face a penalty of 02 - 07 years' imprisonment.

2. This offence committed in any of the following circumstances carries a penalty of 05 - 10 years' imprisonment:

a) The information is classified as second-degree top secret;

b) The offender misuses his/her position or power to commit the offence;

c) The offence causes losses in terms of national defense and security or results in diplomatic, economic, or cultural damage.

3. This offence committed in any of the following circumstances carries a penalty of 10 - 15 years' imprisonment:

a) The offence is committed by an organized group;

b) The information is classified as first-degree top secret;

c) The offence has been committed more than once;

d) The offence infringes upon the political regime, independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Vietnam.

4. The offender might also be liable to a fine of from VND 10,000,000 to VND 100,000,000 or prohibited from holding certain positions or doing certain jobs for 01 - 05 years.

With the above regulations, when violating the disclosure of exam questions for the first time, the violating individual or organization will be sentenced to imprisonment from 5 to 10 years. In addition, they may also be fined from 10,000,000 VND to 100,000,000 VND, banned from holding certain positions, practicing certain occupations or doing certain jobs for 01 to 05 years.

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