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The Government proposes to pass the law on State Secret, to make amendments and addenda to a number of laws in order to modernize the law on State and Office Secret and to comply it with the functioning legislation and international standards.

The initiative was debated in the first reading at January 11 sitting of the Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs, where the Committee Chair Vladimir Vardanyan moderated.

According to Deputy Director of the RA National Security Service (NSS) Tigran Harutyunyan, it is proposed to remove from the law the regulations on secret by the bill on State Secret.

The definitions of the notions being used in the law are reviewed for ensuring legal certainty and the framework of the information being classified to the series of state secret is specified.

As Tigran Harutyunyan informed, the bases of rejecting the provision of permissibility of right to information containing state secret., defining the main, as well as additional conceptual refusal bases.

While revising the package of drafts the progressive experience of a number of Western countries was taken into consideration. The provisions on the secret information by other drafts included in the package are complied with the regulations being defined by the bill on State Secret.

The rapporteur also answered the deputies’ questions. According to him, as the MPs have an opportunity to perform their full functions without having connection with secret information, hence the MPs are not permission to relate to secret information by the initiative.

The Committee Chair Vladimir Vardanyan made an initiative, saying that the proposing amendments are necessary to guarantee the legal relations connected with the state secret at this phase of information technology development. Vladimir Vardanyan expressed willingness to organize working discussion on the initiative from the first to the second reading if necessary.

The Secretary of the Armenia Faction Artsvik Minasyan presented his observations on some formulations and made proposals.

The initiative was endorsed.