The plenary session of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis on August 20 passed in the third reading the draft law “On State Secrets”.
According to the report, the draft law “On State Secrets” defines the powers of bodies in the field of protection of state secrets, levels of secrecy, terms of classification of information, the procedure for issuing permits for the use of state secrets.
In addition, the draft law approves a limited list of information included in state secrets, consisting of 4 categories. A list of information not subject to classification is defined. According to this list, information on emergency situations, the state of crime, human rights violations and similar information cannot be classified.
The press service of the Legislative Chamber told Kun.uz that the bill on state secrets was considered and passed at a separate session of the chamber on August 20, outside of a live broadcast. The reason for this decision was not explained.
For reference, the current law “On Protection of State Secrets” was adopted in 1993. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev's July 2021 decree on transparency mandated the development of a new draft law. According to the decree, the draft law “On Protection of State Secrets” was to be developed by August 2021.
However, the document has not yet been released to the public. In December 2021, Akmal Burkhonov, director of the Anti-Corruption Agency, stated that “due to objections from one or two agencies” the draft law was delayed and that once the objections were removed, the drafts would definitely be submitted for public discussion.
In fact, neither in the process of drafting the law “On State Secrets” nor during its discussion in the Legislative Chamber was it publicized to the public.
Reprinted from https://kun.uz/
Comments