Safety management

BACKGROUND

A party to proceedings has the right to file an appeal against a decision of the Office issued in security proceedings if he has not waived this right in writing after delivery of the decision or if Act No 412/2005 on the protection of classified information on security capability, as amended (‘the Act’) does not provide otherwise (Section 125 of the Act).

The following decisions of the Office may be appealed against:

1. the Office's decision on non-issuance a security certificate (Section 121(2) of the Act);
2. the Office's decision on invalidation proof of safety capacity (Section 121(3) of the Act) – the filing of decomposition does not have suspensive effect in this case;
3. the Office's resolution on discontinuation of proceedings (Section 113(1)(c), (d) and (h) and Section 113(2) of the Act),
4. the Office's decision on decomposition (Sections 128 and 129 of the Act),
5. corrective decision Office (Section 122(6) of the Act).

Method and form of administration of degradation

The decomposition shall be filed with the Office: within 15 days from the date of service of the decision (Section 126(1) of the Act).

In paper form, decomposition may be filed in person or through another person authorised for that purpose at the filing office of the Office’s registered office (Na Popelce 2/16, Prague 5 – Košíře), during office hours.

The decomposition can also be sent via a postal licence holder or a special postal licence to the Office's address (P.O.BOX 49, Prague 56, postcode 150 06).

In electronic form, decomposition can be submitted by delivery to the Office’s data box (Office ID – h93aayw, ‘Security proceedings – Decomposition’ is entered in the field ‘Case’) or to the Office’s electronic filing office (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., ‘Security proceedings – Decomposition’ is entered in the field ‘Subject matter’).

If a party to the proceedings misses the time limit for filing an appeal for serious reasons, he may apply to the Office for its remission within 15 days of the date on which the cause of the default ceased to exist. The condition, however, is that the application for remission must be accompanied by the decomposition itself.

Requirements for decomposition (Section 127 of the Act)

1. identification party – first name, surname and social security number, 2. address of permanent residence; where applicable, the address for service, 3. Date and signature Individuals, 4. Identification of the decisionagainst which the decomposition is filed (i.e. reference number and date of issue), 5. what the party to the proceedings seeks (i.e., for example, annulment of the decision of the Office to revoke the validity of the security clearance document, annulment of the decision of the Office not to issue the security clearance document, annulment of the decision to discontinue the security clearance procedure, etc.), 6. reasons, for which the contested decision is incorrect, or what the party considers to be contrary to the law (i.e. the party specifically describes the reasons why it does not agree with the contested decision). An appeal may be brought against the operative part of a decision, not against the grounds of that decision.

Warning

If the dissolution does not have the prescribed formalities, the party to the proceedings is requested in writing to remedy the deficiencies and the proceedings are suspended (Section 112(1)(b) of the Act).

If a party fails to remedy the deficiencies within the prescribed period, the appeal proceedings are discontinued by means of a decision (Section 131(2) of the Act – a party may not appeal against that decision).

At any time during the decomposition proceedings, a party to the proceedings may withdraw the decomposition lodged. This can only be done in writing. In this case, the appeal proceedings are discontinued by means of a decision (Section 131(2) of the Act); no appeal may be brought against that decision.

Procedure for decomposition decisions

The appeal is first dealt with by the Office, i.e. the organisational unit of the Office which issued the contested decision. The Office shall proceed as follows:

1. if the dissolution is inadmissible under the law or was filed after the expiry of the time limit, unless its default by the Office has been remitted (see above), the Office shall Rejects by decision, against which further dissolution may be filed (Section 128 of the Act),
2. if it finds reasons for doing so, comply Office of Decomposition in its entirety and annul the contested decision; (so-called autoremedura); an appeal may again be brought against such a decision (Section 129(1) and (2) of the Act);
3. if the Office does not decide in either of the above ways, Submits the decomposition together with its opinion and all file material within 15 days of delivery to the Director of the Office (Section 129(3) of the Act).

The Director of the Office decides on the decomposition on the basis of a proposal of the decomposition committee (Section 130 of the Act) within 3 months from the date of its delivery (Section 131(9) of the Act). The Director of the Office shall decide in one of the following ways:

1. if there are grounds pursuant to Section 131 of the Act (e.g. the party to the proceedings has withdrawn the decomposition), the decomposition proceedings stops (e.g. Section 131(2) of the Act); if a party to the proceedings dies, has been declared dead (Section 131(1) of the Act), the dissolution proceedings shall also be discontinued;
2. if it finds grounds for doing so, an appeal against the decision to revoke the validity of the security certificate upholds and annuls the contested decision; (Section 131(5) of the Act); a security certificate is returned to the party together with the decision on dissolution, the validity of which is renewed on the date on which the decision on dissolution becomes final (i.e. the date of service) – Section 132 of Act ; proceedings for the revocation of the validity of a security certificate pursuant to Section 101 of the Act shall continue;
3. if it finds reasons to do so, an appeal against the decision not to issue a security certificate upholds and annuls the contested decision;; on the date of delivery of the decision on the dissolution of the party to the proceedings, security proceedings are initiated by the Office (Section 93(1)(d) of the Act), this security proceedings shall be terminated by the Office within the time limit specified for the type of security proceedings in Section 117 of the Act,
4. if it finds reasons to do so, dissolution against the decision to discontinue the safety procedure upholds and annuls the contested decision;; on the date of delivery of the decision on the dissolution of the party to the proceedings, the Office shall continue the security proceedings, which it shall conclude within the time limit laid down for the type of security proceedings in Section 117 of the Act,
5. in the event that it finds no grounds for discontinuing the appeal or annulling the contested decision, the appeal rejects and upholds the contested decision; (Section 131(7) of the Act).

The grounds for upholding the appeal, annulling the contested decision and referring the case back to the Office for reconsideration and decision, as set out in points 2 to 4, are the finding that the operative part of the contested decision was issued in breach of the law or is otherwise incorrect, or the finding that facts having an impact on the decision occurred after the contested decision was issued (Section 131(6) of the Act).

APPLICATION

The decision of the Director of the Office on decomposition may be filed action pursuant to Act No. 150/2002 Coll., the Code of Administrative Procedure. An action may be brought against a decision of the Director of the Office pursuant to Section 131(2)(b), Section 131(3)(b) and Section 131(5) to (7) of the Act.

The action shall be brought within the time-limit 30 days from the date of service of the contested decision, to the competent regional court adjudicating in administrative justice – i.e. the Municipal Court in Prague (Section 133(1) of the Act).