Classification of State Secrets in Vietnam

Classification of State Secrets in Vietnam (Image from Internet)

1. Classification of State Secrets in Vietnam

According to Article 8 of the Law on Protection of State Secrets 2018, based on the importance of the information content and the degree of harm if disclosed or lost, state secrets are classified into three levels:

• Top Secret: This level includes state secrets related to politics, national defense, security, cipher, and foreign affairs. If these secrets are disclosed or lost, it may cause exceptionally serious harm to the national and ethnic interests.

• Secret: This level encompasses state secrets related to politics, national defense, security, cipher, constitutional drafting, legislative activities, judiciary, foreign affairs, economy, natural resources and environment, science and technology, education and training, culture, sports, information and communication, healthcare, population, labor, society, organization, personnel, inspection, supervision, handling violations, complaint resolution, anti-corruption, and state audit. Disclosure or loss could cause very serious harm to national and ethnic interests.

• Confidential: This includes state secrets related to politics, national defense, security, cipher, constitutional drafting, legislative activities, judiciary, foreign affairs, economy, natural resources and environment, science and technology, education and training, culture, sports, information and communication, healthcare, population, labor, society, organization, personnel, inspection, supervision, handling violations, complaint resolution, anti-corruption, and state audit. Disclosure or loss could cause serious harm to national and ethnic interests.

2. Scope of State Secrets in Vietnam

According to Article 7 of the Law on Protection of State Secrets 2018, the scope of state secrets includes crucial unpublished information in the following fields, whose disclosure or loss could harm national and ethnic interests:

* Political Information:

• Policies and strategies of the Party and State regarding domestic and foreign affairs.
• Activities of the Central Executive Committee, Politburo, Secretariat, and leadership of the Party and State.
• Strategies and projects related to ethnic groups and religion concerning national security and social safety.
• Information that negatively affects the political and socio-economic situation.

* National Defense, Security, and Cipher Information:

• Strategies, plans, schemes, and activities for protecting the nation, national defense, national security, and public safety; significant projects and schemes.
• Organization and activities of the armed forces and cipher forces.
• National defense, security, and cipher facilities; types of weapons, equipment, and means that determine national defense capabilities and security; cipher products.

* Constitutional, Legislative, and Judicial Information:

• Constitutional drafting, legislative activities, supervision, and decisions on significant national matters.
• Information on prosecution; investigation, exercising the right to prosecute, supervising judicial activities, trial, and criminal sentence execution.

* Foreign Affairs Information:

• Strategies, plans, and schemes for developing relations with foreign countries, international organizations, or other international law entities; plans and activities of foreign affairs of the Party and State agencies.
• Information and agreements exchanged or signed between Vietnam and foreign countries, international organizations, or other international law entities.
• Secret information shared by foreign entities, international organizations, or other international law entities under international treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member and related international agreements.

* Economic Information:

• Strategies, investment plans, and national reserves ensuring national defense and security; tenders serving national security.
• Financial, budgetary, and banking information; plans for currency collection, exchange, and issuance; design templates, print plates, molding techniques, technology for printing and minting currency, and valued papers; quantities and locations of precious metals, gemstones, and other valuable state materials.
• Information on industries, trade, agriculture, and rural development.
• Plans for transportation with political, socio-economic, and defense-security significance.
• Information on the development of national, regional, provincial, special administrative-economic units, urban planning, and rural planning; national reserve system plans, defense works, military zones, ammunition depots, and defense and security industry planning.

* Natural Resources and Environmental Information includes water resources, environment, geology, minerals, meteorology and hydrology, land, sea, islands, surveying, and mapping.

* Science and Technology Information:

• Inventions and new technologies serving national defense, security, or having special significance for socio-economic development.
• Information on atomic energy, radiation, and nuclear safety related to national defense and security.
• Special scientific and technological tasks and national-level scientific and technological missions related to defense and security.

* Education and Training Information:

• National exam questions, answers, and related information.
• Information on members of the People's Army, the People's Police, and the Cipher Service selected for training domestically and abroad.

* Cultural and Sports Information:

• Information on heritage, artifacts, national treasures; methods, secrets for preserving, transmitting intangible cultural heritage.
• Methods, secrets for selecting and training high-performance sports coaches and athletes; methods, secrets for athlete health recovery post-training and competition; strategies in high-performance sports competitions.

* Information and Communication Sector:

• Strategies, plans, projects for developing journalism, publishing, printing, postal services, telecommunications and the Internet, radio frequencies, information technology, IT industry, network information security, electronics, broadcasting and television, electronic information, news agencies, external information, grassroots information systems, and national information communication infrastructure for national defense and security.
• Technical design, diagrams, and data on the equipment of critical security information systems, national-critical information systems, and private network systems serving the Party, State agencies, and organizations.

* Healthcare and Population Information:

• Information on healthcare for top Party and State leaders.
• Information on newly discovered microorganisms related to human health and life; specimens, genetic sources, and medicinal plant farms.
• Processes for producing valuable medicinal plants and biological medicines.
• Documents, data on population surveys.

* Labor and Social Affairs Information:

• Strategies, plans, projects on wage reform, social insurance, and people with revolutionary merits.
• Complex situations regarding labor, children, social evils, and gender equality.

* Organizational and Personnel Information:

• Strategies, plans, and projects on organizational and personnel work of the Party, State, and socio-political organizations.
• Processes for preparing, deploying, and implementing organizational and personnel work.
• Information on internal political protection.
• Examination questions, answers for selecting leadership positions, managers, recruitment, promotion of civil servants, and public employees.

* Information on Inspection, Supervision, Violation Handling, Complaint Resolution, and Anti-Corruption:

• Strategies, plans, projects on inspection, supervision, complaint resolution, and anti-corruption.
• Information on inspection, supervision activities, violation handling, complaint resolution, and anti-corruption.

* State Audit Information:

• Strategies, plans, projects on state audit.
• Audit information on public finances and assets.

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