State secrets in the People's Public Security Forces are automatically declassified in which cases?

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To be specific: Declassification is the removal of the secrecy status from state secrets. State secrets are automatically declassified in the following cases:

a) The protection period expires, or the extension period of the protection period of state secrets stipulated in Article 19, Article 20 of the Law on Protection of State Secrets;

b) They no longer fall under the list of state secrets. In this case, the units of the People's Public Security force determining state secrets must stamp or have other documents identifying the declassification and immediately notify the relevant agencies, organizations, or individuals in writing.

Circular 38/2020/TT-BCA stipulates that state secrets can be declassified in whole or in part when necessary to meet practical requirements of protecting national interests, ethnicity, socio-economic development, integration, and international cooperation. In this case, units of the People's Public Security force must carry out declassification according to the following procedures:

- The head of the unit of the People's Public Security force determining state secrets establishes a Declassification Council;- The Declassification Council includes representatives of the leadership of the unit of the People's Public Security force determining state secrets as the Council Chairman and representatives of relevant agencies and units;- The Declassification Council is responsible for evaluating declassification and reporting to the head of the unit of the People's Public Security force determining state secrets, who will issue the declassification decision;- In the case of partial declassification, the content to be declassified is included in the declassification decision, and no later than 15 days from the date of the declassification decision, the unit conducting the declassification must notify the relevant agencies, organizations, or individuals in writing to carry out declassification stamping or have documentation identifying the declassification for the documents and items containing state secrets under their management;- In the case of complete declassification of state secrets, after the declassification decision, declassification stamping must be done or documentation identifying the declassification must be available, and no later than 15 days from the date of the declassification decision, the unit conducting the declassification must notify the relevant agencies, organizations, or individuals in writing to carry out declassification stamping or have documentation identifying the declassification for the documents and items containing state secrets under their management;- The declassification dossier must be archived, including the decision to establish the Declassification Council; the state secrets proposed for declassification; the minutes of the Declassification Council meeting; the declassification decision; and other related documents.

Regarding the Declassification Stamp Template, follow the regulations in Circular 24/2020/TT-BCA dated March 10, 2020, of the Minister of Public Security issuing the templates used in the protection of state secrets.

View the full text of the regulation at Circular 38/2020/TT-BCA effective from July 1, 2020.

Thu Ba

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