Responsibility for unjustified secrecy and the right to access information. What changes will the new state secrets law bring?

A new version of the law was signed by Shavkat Mirziyoyev on December 23.

The unified state policy regarding state secrets will be determined by the president, and the authorities in this area will not only belong to the State Security Service (SSS) but also to the Cabinet of Ministers and other organizations that handle state secrets.

The government has been assigned the following tasks:

• organization of the development of document drafts in the field of state secrets and taking measures for their implementation;

• conclusion of intergovernmental agreements on mutual protection of classified information and taking measures for their implementation;

• determining the procedure for providing state secrets to foreign countries and international organizations;

• establishing the procedure for creating classified bodies, their activities, and liquidation;

• determining the procedure for formalizing the right to use state secrets;

• determining the procedure for classifying information as state secrets, their classification, declassification, and protection of state secrets and their carriers in organizations that handle state secrets;

• approval of the list of information subject to classification in Uzbekistan;

• establishing the procedure for determining the extent of damage caused or that may be caused to the security of Uzbekistan or the interests of organizations;

• others.

Organizations that handle state secrets will need to apply to the SSS for permission to engage in activities related to state secrets.

The following four categories of information will be considered state secrets of national significance:

• military sphere;

• foreign policy and foreign economic spheres;

• intelligence and counterintelligence, operational-search activities, and other areas of state security;

• economic, educational, scientific, and technical sphere.

Based on their importance, state secrets will be divided into three categories: "Confidential," "Secret," and "Top Secret."

Terms for classifying information:

• up to 30 years — for state secrets of national significance;

• up to 10 years — for official secrets.

The list of information related to state secrets in the military sphere consists of 20 items. Among them:

• information revealing plans for joint movements, troop deployments, operational plans, security and defense plans for classified facilities, combat command documents, documents for raising the armed forces (AF) to various levels of combat readiness in emergencies;

• information on strategic deployment of AF, troop strength, combat support, condition, armament, organizational structure, development, combat composition or number of troops, their combat readiness, as well as military-political and/or operational situations;

• information revealing directions, long-term plans, and prospects for the development of armaments and military equipment, and troop staffing, as well as content and results of targeted programs, scientific research, and experimental design work for creating and modernizing samples of armaments and military equipment, as well as information revealing tactical and technical characteristics of armaments and military equipment;

• information on orders within the framework of the state defense order, volumes and directions of production and supply of armaments and military equipment, designs, production technologies, combat, physical, chemical characteristics, as well as on the use of armaments and military equipment;

• information revealing the technology for producing missile fuels, ballistic powders, explosives, and detonating devices used for military purposes, as well as new alloys, special liquids, fuels for armaments and military equipment;

• information on communication networks and telecommunication infrastructure intended for ensuring defense capability and security;

• information revealing the allocation of radio frequency bands used for military or special purposes;

• information on the prospects for the use and/or development of space infrastructure in the interests of ensuring the defense capability and security of Uzbekistan;

• information revealing construction projects for military facilities and infrastructure and contracts related to military-technical support;

• information on expenditures from the republican budget revealing support for the defense capability and security of Uzbekistan (except for generalized indicators);

• others.

The list of information related to state secrets in foreign policy and foreign economic areas includes six items:

• information on foreign policy, foreign trade, scientific and technical relations revealing the strategy and tactics of foreign policy, describing bilateral relations of Uzbekistan with states and international organizations, and other similar information, the premature dissemination of which could harm the interests of the country;

• information on political, economic, military, or scientific-technical issues concerning one or several foreign states, obtained confidentially, if their disclosure could lead to the identification of the source;

• information on negotiations between representatives of Uzbekistan and other states to develop a unified principled position in international relations, if, in the opinion of the negotiating participants, the disclosure of this information could lead to diplomatic complications for one of the parties;

• information on the preparation, conclusion, content, execution, suspension, or termination of international treaties, the premature dissemination of which could harm the defense capability, security, political or economic interests of Uzbekistan;

• information on the export and import of armaments, military equipment, or supplies, if the disclosure of this information contradicts the rules of Uzbekistan's international treaties;

• information revealing the volume and content of economic cooperation with foreign states and international organizations during a special period.

In the category of information constituting state secrets in the field of intelligence, counterintelligence, operational-search, and other activities concerning state security, there are nine items:

• information revealing forces, means, methods, plans, forms, and results of intelligence, counterintelligence, operational-search activities, as well as data on the financing of intelligence, counterintelligence, and operational-search activities;

• information revealing the affiliation of specific individuals to the personnel of intelligence, counterintelligence, operational-search bodies, as well as about individuals providing assistance to these bodies on a confidential basis, and members of their families;

• information on operational-mobilization activities, their state and results;

• information about intra-agency and international secure communication networks and systems (located objects and devices) of the President of Uzbekistan and the government, as well as state bodies, key documents (creation, production, and provision) of cryptographic protection means, methods or tools for analyzing cryptographic protection means, and information-analytical systems of special purpose;

• information revealing the forces, means, and methods of investigation in criminal cases related to encroachments on the constitutional order, crimes against peace and security of mankind, if they relate to the investigation of situations containing information that constitutes state secrets;

• information on the forces, means, methods, plans, organization of security for protected state persons;

• others.

The list of data subject to classification in the field of economy, education, science, and technology includes 25 items:

• information on indicators determining the preparation of the economy for stable functioning in wartime;

• information revealing the essence of the latest achievements in science and technology that can be used in creating fundamentally new products, technological processes in various sectors of the economy, as well as determining a qualitatively new level of capabilities of armaments and military equipment, enhancing their combat effectiveness;

• information on the production of certain types of rare metals and other materials of strategic importance by the metallurgical industry;

• information revealing resource potential, balance reserves in the bowels, or information on the extraction of certain types of minerals;