On Wednesday, the 5th of April, Latvia’s parliament conceptually supported and set status of urgency for amendments that provide for classifying information used by services as official secrets. This is something journalists were very alarmed about in the past.
Relevant amendments are planned for the Law on Official Secret, Freedom of Information Law and the Criminal Law.
The legislative draft involving amendments is planned to be passed by the parliament on the 20th of April.
Because the legislative draft was granted «high urgency», the Constitution states the President does not have the right to return legislative amendments back for a second reading.
Latvian Journalists’ Association (LŽA) invited the Saeima to not grant urgency to amendments and instead organise a discussion with NGOs and journalists with involvement from the Ministry of Justice as well.
On the 4th of April Saeima’s Defence, Internal Affairs and Corruption Prevention Committee proposed for a second reading amendments to the three aforementioned laws. The committee invited the parliament to grant amendments urgency, which should ensure their quick review.
Defence, Internal Affairs and Corruption Prevention Committee requested amendments to be passed to the National Defence Committee. Authors of the initiative are Latvia’s special services – Constitution Protection Bureau, State Security Service and Military Intelligence and Security Service.
The Law on Official Secret states that information that is an official secret, is classified into three categories: top secret, secret and confidential information. Now it is suggested to expand categories with information for service needs.
Amendments state that information for service needs is information classified by a head of institutions, specifically information related to institutional functions and the loss or illegal disclosure of which could put at risk national interests, impede institutions’ operations or functions.
As for the terms of storage of official secrets, the suggested term of secrecy for the new category of information is three years.
It is planned to exclude from the Freedom of Information Law the section that defines information for service needs.
Special services explain that the current definition of information for service needs is too unclear, interpretation of this term is often controversial, and there are no clear criteria. The current definition is too narrow and prevents institutions from using information classification options to the full extent. On top of that, there may be cases when information is protected even though it is not directly linked to national security.
Currently the definition listed in the law in regards to what kind of information can be considered information for service needs does not provide a clear picture about the definition, special services claim.
In practice, however, the existing definition creates confusion for the legislator, because often it is unclear if information should be classified one way or another. The problem is the application of the term «national security» both in regards to information for service needs and official secrets.
Currently for a private person, journalists included, to request restricted information and information for service needs, they have to justify their request and state the purpose for information. Special services want to change the general order, because information for service use generally has higher degree of protection than restricted information.
«The point of amendments is organising regulations for confidential information, not tightening information security regulations. We want to organise rules in accordance with the modern situation,» said SAB representative Batalauskis at the committee’s meeting.
LŽA board member and LTV journalist Ivo Leitāns said he found out about the legislative draft this Monday.
According to him, it is wrong for amendments of this kind to be rushed with urgency. The parliament’s vote is expected on Wednesday. It should be mentioned that LŽA was not invited to discuss amendments.
The association invites lifting urgency from the legislative draft and set the term for the legislative draft to come into force in May.
«There was no discussion or time to study, understand and assess. The information about definitions is lacking as well – it is either not too informative, or it is not presented much in ways to let journalists or society study it later on. These things are just unclear at the moment,» stressed Leitāns.
Opposition member Atis Švinka agreed that there wasn’t enough time to listen to NGOs. According to him, there is no need to rush amendments.
National Defence Committee leader Jānis Dombrava claimed Latvia is «a very democratic country» and the legislative draft was put on the table in the Saeima last week, when deputies had the opportunity to study and vote on their submission to committees. He also said anyone could participate in today’s committee meeting. He also said the topic of whether or not invitations should have been sent to NGOs should be addressed.
In a letter sent to Saeima speaker Edvards Smiltēns and all factions, LŽA mentioned the proposed amendments basically state that information for service use is being made into an official secret of sorts. This means information of this kind will no longer be governed by the Freedom of Information Law, rather then Law on Official Secret.
LŽA invites postponing continued progress of amendments and lifting urgency, because there were no discussions about them with members of society, NGOs or LŽA. The latter will be affected by amendments the most and limit society’s freedom to access important information.
SAB notes that law amendments that provide for making information for service use an official secret and important and highly required.
For years there have been many attempts by various heads of state institutions to sort out regulations that govern important defence-related information. While working on Cabinet of Ministers regulations it was concluded that the best solution to sort out rules would be transitioning to the Law on Official Secret, SAB explains.
As for public concerns about amendments potentially limiting residents’ access to information, SAB referred to what is listed in regulations. The institution explained that people will still have access to information for service use if it is necessary to perform duties.
SAB also added that because of the ongoing armed conflict in Ukraine, the issue of information security is high priority for Latvia.
Providus think tank director and leading researcher Iveta Kažoka explains that law amendments that provide for making information for service use into official secrets cannot be passed without involvement from society and NGOs.
She said Latvia already has a problem with information transparency, especially in a situation when there are ongoing disputes about the borders for private persons’ data security, commercial secrets, official secrets, and because there is a lot kept under wraps already.
«In this particular case law amendments open the way to make any information from institutions as official secrets, disclosing which could potentially create risks for institutions’ continued operations,» stresses Kažoka, adding that amendments were pushed without discussions with experts, NGOs, the ombudsman or the Ministry of Justice.
Also read: Latvian PM: State Revenue Service should turn to taxpayers with a friendly face