Declassification procedures in different countries: food for thought

BY KATHLEEN VAN ACKER, ARCHIVIST WITH THE SECTION CLASSIFIED ARCHIVES (BELGIAN MINISTRY OF DEFENSE).

The Committee of Military Archives thanks Kathleen Van Acker, our Secretary General, for her great commitment and active participation to this blog

Introduction

One of the most discussed topics during our annual conferences is dealing with classified archives. Military archivists deal with these kind of archives on a daily base; we all have similar but also different legislations and directives. So we decided to give an overview of what we found online and what we learned during our discussions.

This summary doesn’t pretend to be complete, on the contrary, like mentioned above, it was mostly an online search and we had to deal with language barriers. It is an invitation for colleagues and researchers to add their information about declassifying procedures, the changes in legislation, etc… So please go ahead and comment in the comments section and send an e-mail to presidency.cam@gmail.com. We will adapt this list on a regular base.

BELGIUM:

• No automatic declassification
• Classified documents can be declassified by the authority of the original classification
• Historical archives can be declassified by the Military Archives Commission 
• Exemptions: 
  • classified material by foreign or international bodies
• More information:
  • 11 décembre 1998 – Loi relative à la classification et aux habilitations, attestations et avis de sécurité
  • Arrêté royal du 24 mars portant exécution la loi du 11 décembre 1998 relative à la classification et aux habilitations, attestations et avis de sécurité

CANADA:

• No automatic declassification
• More information:
  • Access to Information Act

FRANCE:

• Mix of systems: automatic declassification and periodic evaluation
• The creator of the document determines the period of the classification
• Exemptions: informations from foreign services
• More information:
  • Instruction générale interministérielle n°1300 sur la protection du secret de la Défense nationale
  • Instruction générale interministérielle sur la protection du secret de la Défense nationale

GERMANY:

• Automatic declassification after 30 years
• Exemptions: 
  • Maybe extended up to 30 years, only when necessary
  • Classified material by foreign or international bodies
• More information:
  • Federal Archives act: Law for the conservation and use of Federal Archive Material of 10 March 2017
  • Bundesarchiv: usage restrictions

GREECE:

• The Army History Directorate:
  • in 2020 all classified documents of the Directorate’s archive issued by Army institutions until 1955 were declassified
  • access to the more recent ones and those not issued by the Army still remain restricted

HUNGARY:

• Mix of automatic declassification en periodic evaluation
• More information:
  • http://mlp.archivportal.hu/en/archives-of-hungary/military-history-archives/

ITALY:

• Different legal discipline:
  • “Secret information”: classification lasts for 15 years, President of Council can renew the classification for another 15 years
  • “Confidential information”: classification for maximum 10 years
  • Automatic declassification  after 5 years, period can be extended after a motivation bij the author of the original classification
• More information:
  • Law No 124/2007: Intelligence System for the Security of the Republic and new Provisions governing Secrecy
  • Fiorella Foscarini, Archival legislation in Italy. Consolidated version, March 2005

LATVIA:

• Upon classifying an official secret object, the time period after the end of which it must be decided whether to preserve, amend, or remove the classification level of the relevant object shall be indicated. 
• The classification level shall be reviewed by the employee who has signed or approved the official secret object if it is his or her official duty to be the holder of such official secret, or an employee whose official duty is to be the classifier of the official secret object at the moment when the classification level is reviewed.
• More information: 
  • Regulation No. 21: Regulations Regarding the Protection of Official Secrets and the Classified Information of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, European Union and Foreign Authorities
  • Regulation No. 747: Provisions for the Operation of the National Archives of Latvia

NETHERLANDS:

• No fixed date for declassification, more a periodic evaluation
• The creator of the document determines the evaluation after a certain period of time
• Exemptions: 
  • Information from foreign services
  • Protection of state secrets
• More information: 
  • Besluit Voorschrift Informatiebeveiliging Rijksdienst Bijzonder Informatie (VIRBI 2013)
  • Wet op de inlichtingen- en veiligheidsdiensten

POLAND:

• Information is generally made accessible to the public after 30 years
• Periodic evaluation of the classified documents
• Exemptions: documents marked as secret may be declassified after 50 years
• More information:
  • The Act of 14 July 1983 on the National Resource and Archives
  • The Classified Information Protection Act of 22 January 1999
  • World Wide Diplomatic Archives Index: Poland

SWITZERLAND:

• Periodic evaluation at least every five years
• Ewemptions: information from foreign services
• More information: 
  • Ordinance of the Protection of Federal Information of 4 July 2007
  • Federal Act on Archiving of 26 June 1998

UNITED KINGDOM:

• “Thirty year rule”: all governmental records are released after 30 year (now 20 year)
• Exemptions: Intelligence services have a “blanket approval” given by the Lord Chancellor to keep their records as long as they are classified, in order to protect national security.
• More information: 
  • Public Records Act 1958
  • Freedom of Information Act 2000

USA:

• Declassification after 25 years after creation of the document.
• Exemptions:
  • reveal the identity of a confidential human source, a human intelligence source, a relationship with an intelligence or security service of a foreign government or international organization, or a non-human intelligence source; or impair the effectiveness of an intelligence method currently in use, available for use, or under development;
  • 25X2 – reveal information that would assist in the development, production, or use of weapons 25X1 of mass destruction;
  • 25X3 – reveal information that would impair U.S. cryptologic systems or activities;
  • 25X4 – reveal information that would impair the application of state-of-the-art technology within a US weapon system;
  • 25X5 – reveal formally named or numbered U.S. military war plans that remain in effect, or reveal operational or tactical elements of prior plans that are contained in such active plans;
  • 25X6 – reveal information including foreign government information, that would cause serious harm to relations between the U.S. and a foreign government, or to ongoing diplomatic activities of the U.S;
  • 25X7 – reveal information that would impair the current ability of U.S. government officials to protect the President, Vice President, and other protectees for whom protection services, in the interest of national security, are authorized;
  • 25X8 – reveal information that would seriously impair current national security emergency preparedness plans or reveal current vulnerabilities of systems, installations, or infrastructures relating to the national security;
  • 25X9 – violate a statute, treaty, or international agreement that does not permit the automatic or unilateral declassification of information at 25 years.
    
• More information:
  • Executive Order 13526
  • Department of Justice – Archives: Declassification FAQ

---

---