More than 2,000 political documents that were once permanently classified are expected to be made public after the legislature yesterday passed amendments to the National Secrets Acts (國家機密保護法).
About half of the 4,500 documents are to be unsealed next year after wording was changed in Article 12 of the act to declassify them after a 30-year limit on secrecy.
However, authorities can ask the agency that issued the classification rating or a higher-ranking agency to ask for an extension of the secrecy of files.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Each extension may be at most 10 years and files that have remained sealed for 60 years should be reviewed by high-ranking agencies to determine whether they must remain out of public view, the amendments say.
The agency in charge must say within two months whether an extension has been approved and if it does not, the request to extend the classification status would be automatically revoked, the amendments say.
Separate amendments to the Political Archives Act (政治檔案條例) were also passed yesterday.
The changes to the Political Archives Act state that until declassified, original classified documents that fall under Article 12 of the National Secrets Act should not be moved.
Classified files that fall under Article 12 should be unsealed by the 40th year after they have been classified.
When extensions of classification of documents is required because they bear the names of intelligence personnel that if released would compromise their safety, the National Security Bureau (NSB) must be informed, which would relay the extension request to the National Security Council (NSC) to decide whether the request would be approved.
Extensions granted in such cases may be at most three years per request, and the NSB should reassess the files within six months after the amendments take effect, the amendments say.
Failure to complete the assessment within the given time will be considered agreement that the document be unsealed, the changes to the Political Archives Act say.
The National Archives Administration said that while the amended Political Archives Act is to take effect on Feb. 28, declassifying an estimated 2,250 political files, the number that are unsealed would depend on reviews conducted by the NSB and the NSC.
The 40-year declassification rule was to expedite a motion to make the documents available to the public, the archives agency said.
Unless there was need, such as protecting the identity of agents, such information should not be classified, it said.
The Political Archives Act amendments were written with the privacy of people who have been arrested or detained in mind, it said, adding that unless they or their families give their consent, information on their family, sex and other matters would be redacted.
Additional reporting by CNA
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