CHAPTER II
Information Not Subject to Disclosure
Section 14.Official information which may jeopardise the Royal Institution shall not be disclosed.
Section 15. A State agency or State official may issue an order prohibiting the disclosure of official information falling under any of the following descriptions, having regard to the performance of duties of the State agency under the law, public interests and the interests of the private individuals concerned:
(1) the disclosure thereof will jeopardise the national security, international relations, or national economic or financial security;
(2) the disclosure thereof will result in the decline in the efficiency of law enforcement or failure to achieve its objectives, whether or not it is related to litigation, protection, suppression, verification, inspection, or knowledge of the source of the information;
(3) an opinion or advice given within the State agency with regard to the performance of any act, not including a technical report, fact report or information relied on for giving opinion or recommendation internally;
(4) the disclosure thereof will endanger the life or safety of any person;
(5) a medical report or personal information the disclosure of which will unreasonably encroach upon the right of privacy;
(6) an official information protected by law against disclosure or an information given by a person and intended to be kept undisclosed;
(7) other cases as prescribed in the Royal Decree.
An order prohibiting the disclosure of official information may be issued subject to any condition whatsoever, but there shall also be stated therein the type of information and the reasons for non-disclosure. It shall be deemed that the issuance of an order disclosing official information is the exclusive discretion of State officials in consecutive levels of command; provided that, a person who makes a request for the information may appeal to the Information Disclosure Tribunal as provided in this Act.
Section 16. For the sake of practical clarity as to whether or not and on what conditions official information may be disclosed to any person and for the sake of expediency in having measures preventing its leakage, a State agency shall determine measures for the protection of such information in accordance with the Rule on Official Secrets Protection issued by the Council of Ministers.
Section 17. In the case where a State official is of the opinion that the disclosure of any official information may affect the interests of a person, the State official shall notify such person to present an objection within the specified period; provided that, reasonable time shall be given for this purpose which shall not be less than fifteen days as from the date of the receipt of the notification.
The person having been notified under paragraph one or a person knowing that the disclosure of any official information may affect his interests has the right to present an objection in writing against such disclosure to the responsible State official.
In the case where there is an objection, the responsible State official shall, without delay, consider the objection and notify the result thereof to the person presenting it. In the case where an order dismissing the objection is made, State officials shall not disclose such information until the period for an appeal under section 18 has elapsed or until the Information Disclosure Tribunal has made a decision permitting the disclosure of such information, as the case may be.
Section 18. In the case where a State official issues an order prohibiting the disclosure of any information under section 14 or section 15 or dismissing the objection of the interested person under section 17, such person may appeal through the Board to the Information Disclosure Tribunal within fifteen days as from the date of the receipt of such order.
Section 19. The consideration, whether by the Board, the Information Disclosure Tribunal or the Court, of the information the disclosure of which is prohibited by an order shall be conducted under the procedure without having such information disclosed to any other person not relevent to the procedure of consideration, and in the case of necessity, the consideration may be conducted in the absence of any party.
Section 20. In disclosing any information the disclosure of which may constitute liability under any law, the State official shall be deemed to he exempt from such liability if he acts in good faith in the following circumstances:
(1) in respect of the information under section 15, where the State official duly proceeds in accordance with the Rule issued under section 16;
(2) in respect of the information under section 15, where the State official of the level specified in the Ministerial Regulation issues an order for a general disclosure or a specific disclosure to any person for securing a benefit of greater importance which relates to public interest, life, body, health or other benefit of a person and such order is reasonable; for this purpose, a restriction or condition may be imposed on the use of such information as appropriate.
The disclosure of the information under paragraph one does not constitute a ground for exempting the State agency from liability under the law, if any in such case.
