During 2006 Croatian Office for National Security issued Dana Secrecy Act proposal which was adopted by Croatian Government and sent to parliamentary procedure.
During 2006 Croatian Office for National Security issued Dana Secrecy Act proposal which was adopted by Croatian Government and sent to parliamentary procedure.
GONG has protested against the proposal because of several reasons as following:
– The proposal did not define a concept of secret, but one was derived from different repercussions which would arise as a result of public announcement of so called secrets
– There were to many persons authorized for classifying of data (all public officials and servants)
– Secrecy was set as a rule, not as an exception
– the provisions of the proposed law did not regulate clearly and in detail modes of responsibility of journalists as well as editors, NGOs and other citizens who come in possession of classified data (would they be charged on criminal, misdemeanour or other charges)
– There were no provisions which would allow public announcement of secret data in cases of large public interest
GONG has therefore sent a complaint letter to Croatian Government requesting the withdrawal of the proposal.
GONG has also informed the public, MPs and OSCE of this law proposal. After the Government had been criticized, the proposal was withdrawn so as to be amended. The Office of the National Security Council has initiated the public discussion on the need for the new law proposal.
During February 2007, Croatian Government has adopted a new Dana Secrecy Act Proposal and has pointed it to the Parliamentary procedure for discussion and adoption.
GONG has protested again because of several reasons as following:
– the proposal derogates Freedom of Information Act provisions completely
– secrecy is still a rule, not an exception
– the number of persons authorized for data classifying is still to wide
– there are no provisions on Information Commissioner and public interest test which are necessary for public announcement of data in cases of large public interest
– it is not clear whether the by-laws and other regulation will be publicly announced or classified
– the adoption of this Act is impossible without amending Freedom of Information Act and Personal Data Protection Act
GONG’s representatives have initiated a joint session of Parliament’s Committee on human rights and rights of national minorities and Sub-Committee on human rights on the subject of Data Secrecy Act. Furthermore, although some of the parent committees of Croatian parliament declined the proposal, it was still adopted in the first reading at the session.
GONG has therefore held a press conference together with Croatian Journalist Association and has once again informed the public on the vague and poor provisions of the adopted proposal. Both, GONG and Croatian Journalist Association have stated the derogation of Freedom of Information Act is not acceptable.
In April 2008, GONG, Transparency International Croatia, Centre for Peace Studies and Croatian Helsinki Committee were invited by National Council for National Security in order to present a draft Law on Security Checking. GONG and Centre for Pease Studies have supported the draft Law proposing some improvements. Therefore, a short analyze was made and our comments were sent to the Council.