In view of the various types of deficiencies in the area of administrative security in the labelling, recording and handling of materials submitted to meetings of the Government of the Czech Republic, the State Security Council and other advisory and working bodies of the Government, which have been identified in the performance of checks on the protection of classified information, the National Security Authority issues this methodological recommendation.

The creation of classified material submitted to the Government of the Czech Republic or its working and advisory bodies will be done by default, in accordance with the rules of procedure of the competent authorities. Due to the requirements for content and formal structure laid down in the individual Rules of Procedure, the material will be prepared as a classified document divided into parts (envelope of the material, draft resolution, report for reference, justification, own written basis, results of the comment procedure, etc.) according to the models set out in the individual Rules of Procedure, including the numbering of sheets or pages of individual parts. The marking of material and its individual classified and unclassified parts will always be carried out in accordance with Section 14(3) and Annex 9 to Decree No 275/2022 on administrative security and on registers of classified information, as amended. By default, the material produced will be registered under a separate reference number in the negotiating protocol or in a collection sheet.

The Rules of Procedure require the submission of a cover letter containing, as a general rule, a request for the inclusion of material at a meeting of the competent authority. In current practice, classified material is generally presented as annexes to the cover letters in question. In order to reduce the administrative burden and related errors in the labelling, registration and subsequent handling of classified material submitted in this way, it is recommended not to attach these materials to the cover letters as attachments. This means that the cover letter will be registered under a separate number
Negotiated. Where a cover letter contains classified information, it shall be drawn up as a classified document. No annexes (material) will be declared in the cover letter and the word "Annex" will not be used in the reference to the submitted material.

Classified material and cover letter (classified or unclassified) will be sent to the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic together (in accordance with the Rules of Procedure), but as separate documents, which will also be separately registered (for both the sender and the addressee).

That procedure will reduce the administrative burden on the processors of the classified material in question. As a result, processors will not have to formally mark the materials as annexes to the cover letters with which they will be sent. The administrative burden will also be reduced for recipients of classified material, as activities and mandatory records related to the disconnection and subsequent revision of annexes, or their attachment to other cover letters, with which they would be forwarded to other addressees, will be discarded.

When creating materials prepared as classified documents divided into parts, it is no longer possible to proceed according to the Methodology to create a classified document for meetings of the Government and working bodies of the Government, ref. no. 2900/2013-NBÚ, which has expired.

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