ARTICLE 19 GLOBAL CAMPAIGN FOR FREE EXPRESSION 1. Introduction This Memorandum provides an analysis of the Protection of State Secrets & Documents Provisional Law No. (50) for the year 1971 (the ‘Law’) for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The Law enables officials to protect broad categories of information as state secrets and imposes strict liability offences with severe criminal sanctions on any person who violates its provisions. The Law raises concerns in regard to overly broad definitions of key terms as well as the absence of protections necessary to ensure the right to freedom of information. ARTICLE 19 notes that secrecy laws such as the present Law should define national security precisely and indicate clearly the criteria which should be used in determining classified information, so as to prevent abuse of the label ‘secret’ to prevent disclosure of information in the public interest. The Jordanian government, at the highest level, has committed itself over several years to a process of modernisation and democratisation and has also voluntarily entered into treaty agreements with other States according to which it has undertaken to respect human rights, including freedom of expression and information. Welcoming these reform initiatives, ARTICLE 19 has been active in Jordan for several years, providing expertise on a range of other legislative proposals.1 The purpose of this Memorandum is to identify pressing matters of legal reform which violate Jordan’s obligations under international law. This Memorandum addresses the freedom of information issues within the Law. ARTICLE 19’s analysis and comments are made within the framework of the applicable international standards, with particular reference to Jordan’s treaty obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). These standards are outlined in Section Two of this Memorandum and Section Three sets forth our analysis and proposed amendments to bring the Law more fully in line with these standards. The overbreadth and vagueness of the provisions of the Law pose a serious threat to the right to freedom of information as guaranteed under international law. While the Law is ostensibly directed at protecting highly sensitive political and military material, the classification scheme is exceptionally broad allowing for almost any information to be excluded from public view, facilitating a culture of government secrecy and lack of accountability and repressing the media’s role as a public ‘watchdog’. We are particularly concerned by the wide ambit of who may classify information – the Law allows any private or public person connected with the information to do so – and the complete lack of accountability for the decision to classify information including the absence of a review mechanism to de-classify information after the lapse of time. Once classified, the information remains protected indefinitely under the Law. It is fundamental to the principles of freedom of information that the time-sensitivity of the information is accounted for in assessing whether the information poses a risk of substantial harm to national security. Finally, it is unsustainable to couple severe criminal sanctions with strict liability offences, whose application is broad and undefined. These provisions require further consideration and redrafting to reflect their proposed purpose. 1 See, for example, Memorandum on Jordan’s proposed 1998 Press and Publications Law, July 1998; Memorandum on the Provisional Audiovisual Media Law, February 2005. Memorandum on Jordan’s Protection of State Secrets and Documents Provisional Law No. (50) for the Year 1971ARTICLE 19, London, 2005 – Index Number: LAW/2005/1205 -1-