The law connected with state secrets in Georgia is a precise set of concepts: classification, term, registry, publication and judicial control. The Law on Public Information arranges these concepts in Articles 30, 31, 33, 42 and 48, and exactly these articles determine which information may be protected from disclosure, for how long, how that is declared and what may not be concealed at all. This page describes each pillar with its article — the question of access is read within this frame as the practical application of the balance between transparency and protection.
Conditions for a Classification Decision
The law of access to state secrets begins with the question of when classification is permissible at all. Under Article 30, a decision on classifying public information may be taken only where the law establishes a direct requirement to protect it from disclosure, sets specific criteria of protection and contains an exhaustive list of information to be protected. These three conditions together form the guarantee: if any of them is absent, the classification is unlawful and appealable. Checking them in practice means establishing whether a specific law directly names the information, by what criteria it is protected and whether the disputed material falls within the list — any doubt is resolved in favour of transparency.
The Term of Classification and the Public Registry
Article 31 regulates the rule of the term: save for cases provided by law, professional and commercial information is classified indefinitely; a commercial secret must nevertheless be declared open once it no longer has the value for which it was considered such — the principle of temporality thus protects freedom of information in the commercial sphere. Decisions on the classification of public information and on the extension of its term are entered in the public registry, which ensures transparency: any interested person can learn which information is classified and for what term. The registry entry gives a person a practical instrument as well: they can learn in good time that the term has expired and demand the disclosure of the information; registry data also carry evidentiary weight in a dispute.
Publication After Declassification
Article 33 regulates the duty that follows the removal of classification: after information is removed from classification, any separable part of secret public information, or of the protocol of a closed session of a collegial public institution, must be published within reasonable limits. The publication indicates the person who classified the information, the ground for considering it secret and the term of classification — preserving a trace and the possibility of accountability. This norm ensures that after declassification society receives the maximum possible information, and it disciplines the procedure of declassification itself.