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DOCUMENTS

Classified Information Act

At its ninth session held on 24th and 25th October 2001 the National Assembly adopted the Classified Information Act, subsequently published in Uradni list (Official Gazette) no. 87 on 8th November and entered into force on 23rd November 2001. It is the first act of its kind in the legal order of the Republic of Slovenia (including the history of the former common state). Its implementation will therefore require a number of measures, which will represent a novelty in the functioning of individual state bodies. Furthermore, the measures will require co-ordinated operation of the bodies, which will be one of the main tasks of the new Government Office for the Protection of Classified Information.

The Classified Information Act was adopted as part of the harmonisation of relevant Slovene laws with the EU and NATO acquis [1]. NATO in particular has precise regulations that must be applied in legal order and in practice by all the members when handling classified information. The EU also made a significant step forward this year, with the establishment of common security and defence mechanisms [2]. The Classified Information Act mostly follows NATO and EU standards regulating the handling of classified information.

The establishment of the Government Office for the Protection of Classified Information

In order to carry out certain tasks in the area of classified information protection as stipulated by the Classified Information Act and with regulations adopted on the Act's basis, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia must set up a Government Office for the Protection of Classified Information (hereinafter referred to as the Office) within six months after the entry into force of the Act. The Act entered into force at the end of November this year and the office should therefore be set up by May 2002.

The Office's responsibilities are (Article 43 of the Classified Information Act):

  1. To monitor the situation in the area of the classification and protection of classified information and take care of the development and implementation of physical, organisational and technical standards of the classified information protection in state bodies, bodies of local communities, public powers holders and organisations obtaining or having access to classified information;
  2. To take care of the implementation of the assumed international obligations and international agreements on the classified information protection and to cooperate with the competent bodies of foreign countries and international organisations in this field;
  3. To draft regulations required for the implementation of the Act;
  4. To give opinions about the conformity with this Act of general acts on the classification and protection of and access to classified information;
  5. To co-ordinate the operation of state bodies competent for security clearances;
  6. To keep the records of the issued security clearance certificates;
  7. To keep the records of persons under Article 23, Paragraph 4 of the Classified Information Act;
  8. To propose measures for the improvement of the classified information protection; and
  9. To execute other tasks set by the regulations adopted on the basis of the Act.

In the first stage, the main task of the office will be to draft regulations to be issued by the Government on the basis of the Classified Information Act. The regulations concern:

  1. The method and forms of the classification marking of information and documents (Article 17, Paragraph 4 of the Classified Information Act), the method and procedure of security clearances and the procedure of the issue and revocation of security clearance certificates, required for the access to classified information (Article 23, Paragraph 7 of the Classified Information Act);
  2. The method and procedure of establishing whether the conditions of the classified information protection are fulfilled in companies, institutes and organisations (Article 35, Paragraph 4 of the Classified Information Act);
  3. Physical, organisational and technical measures for and procedures of the classified information protection (Article 39, Paragraph 5 of the Classified Information Act); and
  4. The method and contents of exercising the internal control over the implementation of the Classified Information Act and of the regulations issued on its basis (Article 42, Paragraph 2 of the Classified Information Act).

In addition to the above tasks, which constitute a part of the national system of the classified information protection, the office will also assume certain obligations arising from international agreements, which have already been concluded or will be concluded by the Republic of Slovenia (NATO, the EU and interstate agreements). The Office will probably take the role of the national security agency according to NATO and EU standards. The consequence of this will be the disbanding of the Commission of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for the Protection of NATO Classified Documents.

The Classified Information Act requires all state bodies to

  1. Adopt regulations within one year after the entry into force of the Classified Information Act and to adapt organisationally to the implementation of the Act or to harmonise the existing acts and the organisation of their operations with the provisions of this Act,
  2. To ensure that security clearance certificates be issued to all their employees who have access to classified information due to their working duties or functions; these certificates must be issued two years after the entry into force of this Act at the latest; the employees and functionaries who will not obtain these certificates will have no access to classified information;
  3. To mark again information, which was classified before this Act, entered into force, in accordance with the level of classification under the Classified Information Act. Such information must be marked two years after the entry into force of this Act at the latest, or will no longer be regarded as classified information.

The issuing of security clearance certificates (hereinafter referred to as certificate) will be a particularly extensive task. All persons who in performing their work have access to classified information must be certificate holders (Article 31 of the Classified Information Act). Those already employed must obtain the certificate two years after the entry into force of the Classified Information Act at the latest (i.e. by November 2003) or they will lose their right to access classified information. The procedure to issue security clearance certificates to new employees should be carried out immediately after the person is employed. The certificate is issued if no security reservations are established in the security clearance; the security reservations are defined in Article 27 of the Classified Information Act. All officials and employees of the agency have access to information classified at the RESTRICTED level.

The Classified Information Act authorises the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Defence to issue security clearance certificates; the Director of the Slovene Intelligence and Security Agency also has such authorisation (for employees of the Agency). The Minister of the Interior is authorised to issue certificates for the employees of the Ministry of the Interior and of all other bodies, for which the certificates are not issued by the Ministry of Defence or the Slovene Intelligence and Security Agency. The Ministry of the Interior will therefore have to issue about 15,000 certificates during the two-year transitional period.

Ministry of Internal Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs

1 "Security within NATO" document; C-M (55) 15 (FINAL)
2 The EU Council adopted the Council's Security Regulations on 19 March 2001 and thus regulated the handling of classified information relating to the EU common security and defense policy in a similar way as NATO. The Regulations were published in EU Official Journal L 101 of 11 April 2001 and they have been applied since 1 December 2001 by all EU bodies, EU contractual external agencies and bodies in the Member States. The coordination of and control over the implementation of the regulations is in the competence of the High Representative of the Secretary General, Mr Solana. Even though this area was not included in the EU/SVN negotiating positions, the issue of the harmonization of the Slovene system of handling classified information could come up in the concluding stage of the negotiations for full membership, since the security regulations are obligatory for the members. By adopting the Classified Information Act, Slovenia has fulfilled these EU criteria. These regulations are available at: http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/lif/dat/2001/en_301D0264.html


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