The provisions of Section 157(3) of Act No 412/2005 on the protection of classified information and on security capacity, as amended (‘the Act’), give rise to two basic facts:

  • day 1 January 2008 the classification of classified documents originating before 31 December 1992 shall be declassified; and
  • the responsible person may in the period until 31 December 2007 provide otherwise, i.e. it may provide that the classification level is not to be declassified.

With regard to other provisions of the law (e.g. Section 22(2) and the relevant provisions of Decree No 529/2005 on administrative security and registers of classified information (‘the Decree’) provide for the following conclusions:

  1. the responsible person may provide otherwise only classified documents own; i.e. those for which the entity of which it is the responsible person was the originator or is the legal successor of this originator,
  2. if a period of secrecy longer than 31 December 2007 is or will be specified and marked on classified documents, this shall be considered a decision (otherwise specified) of the person responsible pursuant to Section 157(3),
  3. unless the responsible person decides on a case-by-case basis that the classification level of his own classified documents is not to be revoked (does not provide otherwise) the level of confidentiality will be abolished directly by law,
  4. in the cases referred to in point 3, the originator; notifies all addressees of classified information for which classified documents have been declassified pursuant to Section 157(3) or shall notify them of classified documents for which they have decided otherwise (the classification level shall not be declassified). Those addressees shall subsequently immediately notify in writing all other addressees to whom they have disclosed the classified document;
  5. in cases where the responsible person, for his own classified documents, has not decided otherwise (the classification level is abolished by law), the declassification shall be marked on the originally classified documents. For classified documents received which arose during that period and are deposited with an entity, such marking shall be ensured by the responsible person only after he has received the notification referred to in point 4 from the originator of those classified documents or their sender.
  6. at the same time as marking the cancellation of the classification level on the documents, it is necessary to carry out other administrative tasks provided for in Section 6 of the Decree.

The method of declaring that the responsible person has determined in specific cases that the classification level is not to be declassified may be carried out either by recording directly on classified documents or by a separate record containing a list of classified documents for which the classification level is not to be declassified.

A specific situation may arise from classified international treaties. Here, the classification level was the result of an agreement between the Contracting Parties and therefore cannot be declassified by a unilateral act alone.