Newly Revised Law of the People's Republic of China on Guarding State Secrets
On February 27, 2024, the eighth meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress voted and passed, and it will come into force on May 1, 2024
Aspect 1: Clarify the leadership of the central leading body for secrecy work to lead the national secrecy work
"Secrecy work should be born for the party, accompany the party, and prosper for the party, and has always been an important task of the party and the state. The party's leadership is a fine tradition of secrecy work and a political principle that must be adhered to in secrecy work. The person in charge introduced.
The newly revised State Secrets Law stipulates in the General Provisions that "uphold the leadership of the Communist Party of China over the work of guarding state secrets", clarifying that the central leading institution for state secrets protection work shall lead the national secrets protection work, research, formulate, and guide the implementation of the national secrets work strategy and major guidelines and policies, coordinate major state secrets matters and important work, and advance the construction of the rule of law for state secrets.
According to the responsible person, at present, the situation facing the work of guarding secrets is more complex and severe, and the risks and challenges are unprecedented, and we must unswervingly and always uphold the party's unified leadership over the work of guarding secrets. The current revision of the Secrets Law has written into law the party's management of secrets, improved the party's leadership system for managing secrets, and made it clear that the central leading body for secret-guarding work will lead the nation's secret-guarding work, which is conducive to giving better play to the political and organizational advantages of the party's management of secret-guarding.
Aspect 2: The system of classification and declassification has been improved, and the review of state secrets has been set as an annual review
The current revision has absorbed some mature practices related to classification and declassification in work practice, including: the determination of the scope of classified matters should follow the principles of necessity and reasonableness, scientific argumentation and evaluation, and timely adjustment according to changes in the situation; It is necessary to improve the system for reviewing state secrets, revise the periodic review to an annual review, and clarify the legal responsibility for serious consequences caused by failure to perform the responsibility of declassification review, further consolidate the main responsibility of the organs and units that classify secrets, and facilitate the rational use of information resources.
According to the person in charge, classifying secrets is the source of the work of doing a good job in the management of secrets. Accurate classification is the basis for safeguarding the security of state secrets, and timely declassification is an objective requirement for facilitating the rational use of information resources. The newly revised Secrecy Law has further improved the system of classifying and declassifying secrets, and enhanced the comprehensiveness of the provisions and the operability in practice.
Aspect 3: Improve the system and measures for the protection of confidentiality science and technology, and the "scientific and technological content" of the new confidentiality law has been significantly improved
"Self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology is the foundation of a strong country and the key to security. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, in accordance with the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee, the secrecy front has adhered to innovation-driven, carried out various secrecy science and technology work, and made important contributions to the formation of basic prevention and control capabilities and the maintenance of the security of Party and state secrets. The person in charge said that at present, a new round of scientific and technological revolution is accelerating, and new technologies and applications such as big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence are emerging in an endless stream, which puts forward higher requirements for self-reliance and self-improvement in confidential technology. Therefore, the current revision of the Secrets Law attaches great importance to the innovation and protection of science and technology in secrets.
The newly revised Secrets Law adds new provisions to support the innovation of confidential technologies. A new article has been added to the General Provisions of the Secrets Law, clarifying the state's encouragement and support for the research and application of secret-guarding science and technology, emphasizing the enhancement of independent innovation capabilities, the protection of intellectual property rights in the field of secret-guarding in accordance with the law, and providing legal support for the realization of high-level self-reliance and self-reliance in secret-guarding science and technology.
At the same time, improve the system and measures for the protection of confidentiality science and technology. On the one hand, it stipulates that the entire process of planning, construction, operation, and maintenance of secret-related information systems shall conform to state secrecy regulations and standards, and shall be equipped with secrecy facilities and equipment, and the requirements for regular risk assessment of secret-related information systems shall be clarified to avoid "sick operation"; on the other hand, it stipulates that organs and units shall strengthen the secrecy management of information systems and information equipment, build secrecy self-supervision facilities, and promptly discover and deal with hidden security and secrecy risks.
In addition, the State Secrets Law also regulates the management of security and secret-guarding products and secret-guarding technical equipment used to protect state secrets. Security and confidentiality products are the cornerstone of confidentiality technology protection, and confidentiality technology and equipment are necessary means to carry out confidentiality inspection and technical supervision, and they are indispensable and important technical support for confidentiality work. The Secrecy Law clearly states that security and secrecy products and secrecy technology and equipment used to protect state secrets shall comply with state secrecy regulations and standards, and establish a system of random inspection and re-inspection.
■ Sound
Li Zhaozong, Director of the Central Secrets Office and Director of the State Secrets Bureau:
Formulate and revise supporting secrecy systems in a timely manner to ensure close convergence with state secrecy laws and regulations
Since its promulgation in September 1988 and revision in April 2010, the Secrecy Law has effectively promoted the development of secrecy and played an important role in safeguarding state secrets and safeguarding national security and interests.
With regard to how to grasp the essence and main contents of the State Secrets Law, Li Zhaozong, director of the Central Office for Secrets Protection and director of the State Secrets Protection Bureau, said that it is necessary to pay attention to active prevention, highlight key points, and pay attention to precise protection and appropriate protection.
He said that the essential characteristics of secrecy work determine that it is necessary to take precautions before they occur, and always persist in taking the prevention of theft and leakage of secrets as the starting point and the end goal, take the initiative and move the threshold forward. The current revision of the State Secrets Law has further improved the system of publicity and education on secrets, aimed at building a strong ideological line of defense for secrets, and has established a system and mechanism for risk assessment, monitoring and early warning, emergency response, and information circulation, which is conducive to discovering and eliminating the risks and hidden dangers of leakage of secrets in a timely manner and effectively preventing the occurrence of leakage of secrets.
"Information disclosure and the protection of state secrets are two sides of the same coin, which are dialectically unified, and both are for the purpose of safeguarding the interests of the state and the people. Failure to make public what should be made public, and disclosure that should not be made public, will harm the interests of the state and the people. Li Zhaozong said that the revision of the Secrets Law fully considers the relationship between information disclosure and confidentiality, further strengthens the precise protection of state secrets, and ensures the rational use of information resources to the greatest extent.
With regard to publicizing and implementing the Secrets Law, Li Zhaozong said that he would do a good job in implementing the law in an all-round way. Organs and units should conscientiously implement the responsibility system for secret-guarding work, set up secret-guarding work bodies or designate special personnel to be responsible for secret-guarding work in accordance with the law, form a pattern of secret-guarding work that grasps implementation at all levels and at all levels, and ensure that the various systems stipulated in the Secrets Law are thoroughly implemented.
The state department for the administration and management of secrecy will work with relevant departments to coordinate the advancement of the enactment, reform, abolition and interpretation of secrecy laws and regulations, further enhancing the systematic, integral, and coordinated nature of the secrecy legal system, and forming a scientific, complete, and rationally arranged secrecy legal system. Departments for the administration and management of secrecy at all levels and organs for secrecy work should take the revision of the Secrecy Law as an opportunity to promptly formulate and revise supporting secrecy systems to ensure close convergence with the state's secrecy laws and regulations.
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Law of the People's Republic of China on Guarding State Secrets
(hereinafter referred to as the "Secrets Law")
This year marks the 35th anniversary of the implementation of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Guarding State Secrets (hereinafter referred to as the "Secrets Law") and the second revision of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Guarding State Secrets. How much do you know about confidential knowledge? Let's walk into the "Confidentiality Law" with the editor to learn more about confidential knowledge!
One
What is the Secrecy Act?
The "Secrets Law" is the basic law for the protection of state secrets, and it is the first relatively complete law on the mainland since the founding of the People's Republic of China to manage the work of guarding state secrets that is suited to the situation; it directly involves safeguarding national security and interests, and is an important part of the state's legal system. Since its implementation on May 1, 1989, the Secrecy Law has played an important role in safeguarding state secrets and safeguarding national security and interests. The Secrets Law of the People's Republic of China on Guarding State Secrets (hereinafter referred to as the "Secrets Law") was adopted at the Third Session of the Standing Committee of the Seventh National People's Congress on September 5, 1988, amended for the first time at the 14th Session of the Standing Committee of the Eleventh National People's Congress on April 29, 2010, and amended for the second time at the Eighth Session of the Standing Committee of the Fourteenth National People's Congress on February 27, 2024.
Two
Why do you say keep state secrets?
Is it the duty of every citizen?
It is the duty of every citizen to keep state secrets, and this is clearly stipulated in the "Constitution" and the "Secrets Law," which are the fundamental laws of the mainland.
Article 53 of the Constitution provides:
Citizens of the People's Republic of China must abide by the Constitution and laws, keep state secrets, protect public property, abide by labor discipline, abide by public order, and respect social morality.
Article 54 of the Constitution provides:
Citizens of the People's Republic of China have the obligation to safeguard the security, honor, and interests of the motherland, and must not engage in acts that endanger the security, honor, and interests of the motherland.
Article 3 of the Secrecy Law stipulates that:
State secrets are protected by law.
All state organs, armed forces, political parties, social organizations, enterprises, public institutions, and citizens have the obligation to keep state secrets.
Any act that endangers the security of state secrets must be prosecuted according to law.
That is to say, all citizens of the People's Republic of China, in accordance with the provisions of the mainland's Constitution and laws, must bear the obligations of citizens while enjoying the rights of citizens. Guarding state secrets has a bearing on the security and interests of the state, on social stability, and on the smooth progress of reform, opening up, and economic construction. Therefore, it is the duty of every citizen to keep state secrets.
Three
What acts violate the Secrecy Act?
Article 57 of Chapter 5 of the Secrets Law lists 12 of the most common and typical serious violations. These violations will lead to the failure of secrecy measures, the loss of control of state secrets, and the destruction of the secrecy technical protection system, which will seriously threaten the security of state secrets.
01
Illegally obtaining or possessing state secret carriers;02 Buying, selling, transferring, or privately destroying state secret carriers;
03 Transmitting state secret carriers through ordinary postal services, express delivery and other channels without confidentiality measures; 04 Sending or consigning state secret carriers out of the country, or carrying or transmitting state secret carriers out of the country without the approval of the relevant competent departments; 05 Illegally copying, recording, Storing state secrets; 06 Involving state secrets in private exchanges and correspondence; 07 Failing to adopt effective secrecy measures in accordance with state secrecy regulations and standards, transmitting state secrets on the Internet and other public information networks, or in wired and wireless communications; 08 Failing to adopt effective secrecy measures in accordance with state secrecy regulations and standards, and connecting secret-related information systems and equipment to the Internet and other public information networks;
09 Failing to adopt effective secrecy measures in accordance with state secrecy regulations and standards to conduct information exchange between classified information systems and equipment and the Internet and other public information networks; 10 Using non-classified information systems and non-classified information equipment to store or process state secrets;
11. Uninstalling or modifying the security technical procedures or management procedures of a secret-related information system without authorization; 12. Donating, selling, discarding, or reusing secret-related information equipment that has not been processed by security technology or is used for other purposes.
Four
Violation of the "Secrets Law" causes the leakage of secrets,
What are the legal responsibilities?
Chapter V of the Law on Legal Responsibilities and the new Criminal Law provide:
(1) Where a functionary of a state organ violates the provisions of the Law on Guarding State Secrets by intentionally or negligently divulging state secrets, and the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or short-term detention;
(2) Whoever steals, espionage, buys, or illegally provides state secrets or intelligence for foreign institutions, organizations, or individuals shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than ten years; where the circumstances are especially serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than ten years or life imprisonment; and where the circumstances are relatively minor, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years, short-term detention, controlled release, or deprivation of political rights.
(3) Where an organ or unit violates the provisions of the "Secrets Law" and a major case of leaking secrets occurs, the relevant organ or unit shall impose sanctions on the directly responsible managers and other directly responsible personnel in accordance with law;
Five
Typical case study
01
Illegal shooting with a mobile phone and on WeChat
Transfer confidential files
In the work of relevant departments, it was found that Li Moumou, a first-level investigator in the office of a bureau in Hangzhou, handed over a secret document to seconded person Zhu Moumou in violation of regulations for his reference when drafting the manuscript. Zhu Moumou illegally filmed 2 pages with his mobile phone and stored them in his mobile phone. At the end of the same year, Zhu Moumou sent the pictures of the documents to the WeChat work group of the unit for the reference of other colleagues, resulting in a leak of secrets. After the case occurred, Zhu Moumou was punished with a warning from the party, and Li Moumou was criticized and dealt with by a circular, and his qualification for the year's evaluation was cancelled.
02 Illegally scanning and uploading confidential documents: Mo Moumou, a staff member of a provincial university, illegally copied a confidential contract while he was on a business trip outside the province. After returning to school, Mo Moumou handed over two confidentiality contracts and other materials to Tang Moumou, a teacher at the college. Tang Moumou asked the student to use a mobile phone app to scan a copy of the confidential contract and store it in a computer connected to the Internet. Since then, Tang, Mo, other school staff, and staff of a company outside the province have repeatedly forwarded PDF files containing confidential contracts through WeChat. After the case occurred, Tang Moumou was given an intra-party warning, Mo Moumou was given an administrative warning, and the other 4 relevant personnel were disqualified from the annual evaluation.
03Use WeChat Mini Program to identify and store confidential documents
In the process of sorting out ledger information, Hu Moumou, a staff member of a district in a certain city, violated the rules by using the "picture text recognition" WeChat applet to take a photo of a secret-level document, convert it into an electronic document, and modify the archive on his mobile phone. Since then, the file has been stored inside their phone and has not been forwarded to others or exported to other devices. Afterwards, Hu Moumou was admonished to talk and made a profound review.
Highlight the point
Keeping party and state secrets is the duty of every unit and citizen, and is an important foundation for safeguarding national security and interests.
A few days ago, a responsible person of the State Secrets Bureau answered a reporter's question on a question related to the State Secrets Law.
Reporter: This is the second revision of the Secrets Law, please introduce the background and significance of the revision, promulgation and implementation of the Secrets Law.
Answer: Secrecy work has always been an important task of the party and the state, and it has played an irreplaceable and important role in the revolution, construction, and reform of the mainland. The Secrecy Law is a basic and comprehensive law in the field of secrecy in the mainland. The current Secrets Law, enacted in 1988 and revised in 2010, has effectively promoted the development of secrets and played an important role in guarding state secrets and safeguarding national security and interests. In the new era, profound changes have taken place in the international and domestic situation, the development of science and technology is changing with each passing day, and the work of secrecy is facing some new problems and challenges. In order to better adapt to the new situation and new tasks, it is necessary to revise and improve the Secrets Law.
Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the revision of the Secrets Law thoroughly implements the Party Central Committee's decision-making and deployment on confidentiality work and the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions and instructions, fully implements Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, adheres to the overall national security concept, coordinates development and security, and elevates the mature and effective policy measures and practical experience of confidentiality work since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China into a legal system, providing a more powerful legal guarantee for effectively building a strong line of defense for the security of state secrets. The revision of the Secrets Law is a major achievement in strengthening the construction of the rule of law for secrecy, an inevitable requirement for improving the national security system, and is of important and far-reaching significance for promoting the high-quality development of secrecy work and safeguarding national sovereignty, security, and development interests.
Reporter: We have noticed that the current revision of the State Secrets Law has clearly defined the legal system to further strengthen the party's leadership over the work of guarding secrets.
Answer: Secrecy work should be born from the party, accompany the party, and prosper for the party, and has always been an important task of the party and the state. The party's leadership is a fine tradition of secrecy work and a political principle that must be adhered to in secrecy work. At present, the situation facing the work of guarding secrets is more complex and severe, and the risks and challenges are unprecedented, so we must unswervingly and always uphold the party's unified leadership over the work of guarding secrets. The current revision of the State Secrets Law clearly enshrines the Party's management of secrets into the law, improves the leadership system for the Party's management of secrets, makes it clear that the central leading body for secrets protection work leads the nation's secrets protection work, researches, formulates, and guides the implementation of strategies and major principles and policies for state secrets protection work, makes overall plans and coordinates major matters and important work on state secrets, and promotes the construction of the rule of law for state secrets, which is conducive to giving better play to the political and organizational advantages of the Party's management of secrets.
Reporter: In the process of soliciting opinions on the draft revision of the Secrets Law, the provisions on classification and declassification have always attracted much attention.
Answer: Classification of secrets is the source of confidentiality management. Accurate classification is the basis for safeguarding the security of state secrets, and timely declassification is an objective requirement for facilitating the rational use of information resources. The newly revised Secrecy Law has further improved the system of classifying and declassifying secrets, and enhanced the comprehensiveness of the provisions and the operability in practice. With regard to the classification system, it is clarified that the determination of the scope of confidential matters shall follow the principles of necessity and reasonableness, scientifically demonstrate and evaluate, and be adjusted in a timely manner according to changes in the situation; improve the system of persons responsible for classifying secrets and the authorization mechanism for classifying secrets, and make principle provisions for the marking of secret points, so as to further promote the precision and scientificization of classified secrets. In terms of the declassification system, the review of state secrets has been revised from regular review to annual review, and the legal responsibility for serious consequences caused by failure to perform the responsibility of declassification review has been clarified, further consolidating the main responsibility of the declassification organs and units for declassification review.
Reporter: What are the main considerations for the significant increase in the "scientific and technological content" of the newly revised Secrets Law?
Answer: Self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology is the foundation of a strong country and the key to security. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the secrecy front has implemented the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee, adhered to innovation-driven, and carried out various secrecy science and technology work, making important contributions to the formation of basic prevention and control capabilities and the maintenance of the security of Party and state secrets. At present, a new round of scientific and technological revolution is accelerating, and new technologies and applications such as big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence are emerging one after another, putting forward higher requirements for the self-reliance and self-improvement of confidential technology. Therefore, the current revision of the Secrets Law attaches great importance to the innovation and protection of science and technology in secrets.
First, new provisions are added to support confidential technological innovation. A new article has been added to the General Provisions of the Secrets Law, clarifying the state's encouragement and support for the research and application of secret-guarding science and technology, emphasizing the enhancement of independent innovation capabilities, the protection of intellectual property rights in the field of secret-guarding in accordance with the law, and providing legal support for the realization of high-level self-reliance and self-reliance in secret-guarding science and technology.
The second is to improve the system and measures for the protection of secrecy science and technology. On the one hand, it stipulates that the entire process of planning, construction, operation, and maintenance of secret-related information systems shall conform to state secrecy regulations and standards, and shall be equipped with secrecy facilities and equipment, and the requirements for regular risk assessment of secret-related information systems shall be clarified, so as to avoid "sick operation"; on the other hand, it stipulates that organs and units shall strengthen the secrecy management of information systems and information equipment, build secrecy self-supervision facilities, and promptly discover and deal with hidden security and secrecy risks.
The third is to standardize the management of security and secret-guarding products and secret-guarding technology and equipment used to protect state secrets. Security and confidentiality products are the cornerstone of confidentiality technology protection, and confidentiality technology and equipment are necessary means to carry out confidentiality inspection and technical supervision, and they are indispensable and important technical support for confidentiality work. The Secrecy Law clearly states that security and secrecy products and secrecy technology and equipment used to protect state secrets shall comply with state secrecy regulations and standards, and establish a system of random inspection and re-inspection.
Reporter: Under the conditions of informatization and digitization, the management of state secrets is becoming more and more difficult, in what ways does the Secrecy Law improve the management of network information and data secrecy?
Answer: With the rapid development and widespread application of informatization and digitization, the difficulty of managing state secrets has been increasing, and the importance of preventing and managing the confidentiality of network information has become more and more prominent. The current revision of the Secrecy Law has further improved the management system for the secrecy of network information. First, it is clarified that all aspects of the production, reproduction, publication, and dissemination of online information shall comply with state secrecy regulations. Second, it stipulates that network operators shall cooperate with relevant departments in the investigation and handling of cases suspected of leaking state secrets; if it is discovered that information published through the Internet or other public information networks is suspected of leaking state secrets, it shall promptly handle and report it, delete the information related to the leakage of state secrets as required, and carry out technical processing of the relevant equipment.
In the digital era, data is an important factor of production and a basic strategic resource of the country, and data security is closely related to national sovereignty, security and development interests. The Data Security Law systematically stipulates the collection, storage, use, processing, transmission, provision, disclosure, and security supervision of data, and clarifies that confidentiality laws and regulations apply to the management of confidential data. The revision of the Secrecy Law strengthens the coordination and convergence with the Data Security Law, and adds new provisions on the principles and provisions on the management of data involving state secrets after the management of confidential data and the aggregation and association of data.
Reporter: Information disclosure is closely related to the protection of state secrets, and has always received widespread attention.
Answer: Information disclosure and the protection of state secrets are two sides of the same coin, which are dialectically unified, and both are aimed at safeguarding the interests of the state and the people. Failure to make public what should be made public, and disclosure that should not be made public, will harm the interests of the state and the people. The key to correctly understanding and grasping the relationship between the two lies in keeping the relationship confidential according to law, making it public according to law, and appropriately releasing it. The current revision of the Secrets Law gives full consideration to the relationship between information disclosure and confidentiality, further strengthens the precise protection of state secrets, and ensures the rational use of information resources to the greatest extent. For example, it stipulates that the formulation of the scope of confidential matters shall follow the principles of necessity and reasonableness, and requires that state secrets be reviewed every year, so as to further promote accurate classification and timely declassification. At the same time, special provisions have been added for the review of information disclosure and confidentiality, and a "safety net" for information disclosure has been established, so that the secrets that should be kept are resolutely guarded and the information that should be disclosed is disclosed in accordance with the law.
Reporter: Can you tell us about the considerations for studying and implementing the Secrets Law after it was promulgated and put into effect?
Answer: The revision and improvement of the Secrets Law has provided a strong legal guarantee for the protection of secrets in the new era and new journey, and we will do a good job in the implementation of the Secrets Law in the following three aspects.
The first is to extensively organize study and publicity. Departments for the administration and management of state secrets, organs for secret-guarding work, and secret-guarding cadres at all levels should take the lead in studying the law on secrets and continuously improve their ability and level of managing state secrets in accordance with the law. At the same time, it is necessary to organize well the study, publicity, and training of the law on secrets, and earnestly enhance the awareness of the rule of law in secrets protection and the ability of party and government leading cadres and personnel involved with secrets to perform their duties. Carry out extensive publicity activities for the public to popularize the law on secrecy, create a positive atmosphere for secrecy work in the entire society, and guide the broad masses of the people to firmly establish the concept that "everyone is responsible for guarding state secrets", so as to build a solid mass foundation for secrecy work.
The second is to do a good job in the implementation of the law in an all-round way Organs and units should properly implement the responsibility system for secrecy work, and promote the implementation and achievement of practical results in all legal systems for secrecy in light of the actual work conditions of their own organs and units. Departments for the administration and management of secrecy at all levels should implement the Secrecy Law in an exemplary manner, fully perform the administrative functions entrusted to them by law, permeate the principle of the rule of law in all areas and all aspects of secrecy work, and continuously improve their ability and level of using the rule of law thinking and methods to manage state secrets.
The third is to pay close attention to improving the supporting system. The state department for the administration and management of secrecy will work with relevant departments to coordinate the advancement of the enactment, reform, abolition and interpretation of secrecy laws and regulations, further enhancing the systematic, integral, and coordinated nature of the secrecy legal system, and forming a scientific, complete, and rationally arranged secrecy legal system.
Source: Chinese National Network, Suihua Popularization of Law