Regulations on the scope of state secrets in Vietnam

Regulations on the scope of state secrets in Vietnam (Internet image)

1. What is state secret?

State secret means undisclosed information carrying important contents which is specified by the head of a competent body or organization according to regulations of this Law and the divulgence or loss of which may bring harm to national interest.

State secrets may be contained in documents, objects, locations, speeches, activities or other forms.

(Clause 1, Article 2 of the State Secrets Protection Law 2018)

2. Regulations on the scope of state secrets in Vietnam

State secrets encompass information in the following areas which is undisclosed and the divulgence or loss of which may bring harm to national interest:

(1) Politics:

- Domestic and foreign guidelines and policies of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the State;

- Operation of the Central Steering Committee, Politburo, Secretariat and leaders of the Communist Party and the State;

- Strategies and schemes for ethnic minority and religious affairs and tasks thereof that concern protection of national security and assurance of public order and social safety;

- Information exerting adverse effects on the society - economy and politics;

(2) National defense and security and cryptography:

- Strategies, plans and activities regarding national protection and defense, national security protection and assurance of public order and social safety; programs, projects and schemes of exceptional importance;

- Organization and operation of the people’s armed forces and cryptographer forces;

- Construction works and objectives pertaining to cryptography and national defense and security; weaponry, military equipment and equipment decisive to national defense, national security protection, assurance of public order and social safety; and cryptographic codes;

(3) Constitution formulation, legislation and judiciary:

- Constitution formulation, legislation, supervision of and decision on matters of national importance;

- Information about charges; investigation, exercise of the power to prosecute and supervise judicial activities, adjudicate criminal cases and execute judgments thereof;

(4) Foreign affairs:

- Strategies, plans and schemes for promotion of relations with other countries, international organizations or other entities of international law; state of foreign affairs, foreign affairs plans and activities of organizations of the Communist Party and the State;

- Information and agreements exchanged and concluded between Vietnam and other countries, international organizations or other entities of international law;

- Secret information transferred by other countries, international organizations or other entities of international laws according to international conventions to which Vietnam is a signatory and relevant international agreements;

(5) Economy:

- National reserve and investment strategies and plans for national defense and security; bidding for the purpose of national security;

- Financial, budget and banking information; plans for collection, replacement and issuance of banknotes; specimen designs, engravings, molds and printing technologies for banknotes and financial instruments; quantity and storage of rare and precious metals, jewels and other precious objects of the State;

- Information about industry, commerce, agriculture and rural development;

- Transport plans of political, socio-economic, national defense and security importance;

d- Information about formulation of national-level planning, regional planning, provincial planning, special administrative - economic unit planning, urban planning, rural planning; information about planning of the national reserve warehouse system, planning of systems of national defense construction works, military zones, ammunition warehouses, and the national defense and security industry;

(6) Information about natural resources and the environment, including water, environmental, geological and mineral resources, hydrometeorology, land, seas, islands and survey and mapping;

(7) Science and technology:

- New technologies and patents for national defense and security or of exceptional importance to socio-economic development;

- Information about atomic energy, radiation and nuclear safety related to national defense and security;

- Special scientific and technological tasks, national-level scientific and technological tasks related to national defense and security;

(8) Education and training:

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

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

(9) Culture and sport:

- Information on national precious objects, heritages, vestiges and antiques; methods and know-how for creation, preservation and inheritance of intangible cultural heritages;

- Methods and know-how for recruitment of coaches and athletes of sports with great achievements; methods and know-how for health recovery of athletes after training and competitions; play in competitions with great achievements;

(10) Information and communications:

- Strategies, plans and schemes for development of journalism, publishing, printing, post, telecommunications and the Internet, radio frequencies, information technology, information technology industry, cyber information security, electronics, broadcasting, electronic information, news, foreign affairs information and national media infrastructure of service to national defense and security;

- Technical designs, diagrams and data of devices of information systems important to national security, information systems of national importance and private Internet systems of bodies and organizations of the Communist Party and the State;

(11) Healthcare and population:

- Information on healthcare for senior leaders of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the State;

- Newly discovered microorganism strains and master seeds related to human health and lives; specimens, genetic resources and areas for cultivation of rare and precious herbal ingredients;

- Manufacture of rare and precious biopharmaceuticals and herbal ingredients;

- Information, documents and data pertaining to population censuses;

(12) Labor and social affairs:

- Strategies, plans and schemes for people with meritorious services to revolutions, social security and wage policies reform;

- Labor, children, social evil and gender equality issues;

(13) Organizational structure and official affairs:

- Strategies, plans and schemes for organizational structure and official affairs of organizations of the Communist Party, the State and socio-political organizations;

- Procedures for preparation and deployment of organizational structure and official affairs;

- Information on internal political security;

- Questions and answers of leadership position examinations, management, recruitment and rank promotions examinations for officials and public employees;

(14) Inspection, supervision, handling of violations, settlement of complaints and denunciations, and anti-corruption:

- Strategies, plans and schemes for inspection, supervision, settlement of complaints and denunciations, and anti-corruption;

- Information about inspection, supervision, handling of violations, settlement of complaints and denunciations, and anti-corruption;

(15) State audit:

- State audit strategies, plans and schemes;

- Information about audits of public finance and public property.

(Article 7 of the State Secrets Protection Law 2018)

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