George Mathias
A NEW official secrets law has been tabled by Pedro Sanchez’s government which could see classified state information kept out of the public domain for fifty years.
The draft bill has a clause allowing for redacting information relating to state actions if it would cause “exceptionally serious” problems for Spain’s national interest.
The law would make Spain one of the EUs most restrictive states in the EU and Nato in this regard.
Photo: Flickr
In the UK, the government has the right to withhold state information relating to national security for 20 years, while in Italy it is 15 years, and 25 in the US.
France however has even greater restrictions, with certain state information withheld for a century.
The bill, named the Classified Information Law, will replace one introduced by Franco in 1968 with the final wording submitted on August 1.
The bill divides all state information into four tiers, top secret, secret, confidential, and restricted, with top secret information eligible for a 50 year embargo.
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