Countries with deadlines

Ireland and Austria, countries where secrets can be kept secret

in Ireland They have a 30-year limit, which is known as “Thirty years rule«. Although the official secrets law of this country, from 1963do not set deadlines, the National Archives Act (1986) put an end to access to public records that do not violate state security, as explained by the Irish Embassy in Spain to Newtral.es.

This rule also states that all documents “created or received by a government department must be kept until they are destroyed or transferred to the National Archives for public viewing, when they reach 30 years of age.” In other words, the State Department “has a legal obligation to transfer records for more than 30 years (…) to facilitate public access,” as stated the web From the Irish National Archives.

However, the embassy notes that National Archives Act Declassification of the document is reserved If it is contrary to the public interest, if it could breach a legal duty and if it contains confidential information that could harm a person. In any of these three cases, the regulations state that files are reviewed every five years, but “there is no legal limit to their retention” as explained by the embassy.

in case if Austria, there is no set limit. Official secrets in this country are contained in the constitution (art. twentyAnd in the Civil Service Law (art. 46), as indicated by the Government in the web Sources from the Austrian Ministry of Finance confirm to Newtral.es. Neither of them set a deadline for declassifying it.

Demortas stresses that Austrian regulations do not specify a maximum period for declassifying official documents. Moreover, the expert notes that the European Commission has asked the country to adopt European regulation, relating to the publication of official documents in the European framework. On the other hand, the Austrian country also has Security Information Law (Gesamte Rechtsvorschrift für informsicherheitsgesetz). Accordingly, only dignitaries such as the President of the Republic, his ministers or authorized persons can access confidential information.

Spain and Belgium, on the same point: no declassification deadline for now and two preliminary drafts for its creation

The bill approved last week in Council of Ministers Spanish law provides for automatic declassification of documents once a certain period of time has elapsed. This time will be according to the degree of secrecy and will range from four to 50 years.

In this way, the standard will have four categories: Top Secret, Confidential, Confidential and Restricted. Each level will have a different degree of protection depending on the danger it poses to the security of the state.

For its part, in Belgium there is no Law 1998 Regarding the classification of official or state secrets Application Decree They expect a term for declassification of this type of document, as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Cooperation for Development of Belgium explained to Newtral.es.

The Foundation notes that the regulations only state in Article 3 of the decree that the classification authority can lift secrecy, but there is currently no legal term in which documents must be declassified. In this sense, the official secrets of this country have no term, as Bolanos asserts.

In addition, Lucien Rigaud, professor and researcher in constitutional law, rights and freedoms at the Free University of Brussels (ULB), notes that the country is currently debating law Project This reduces these deadlines depending on the level of confidentiality of the document. In this way, the new regulations specify declassification within 20, 30 or 50 years, depending on whether it is classified, classified, or top secret, respectively.