DECISION

NO. 1087/2003/QD-NHNN OF THE STATE BANK’S GOVERNOR DATED SEPTEMBER 17, 2003 ON ISSUANCE OF REGULATIONS ON PROTECTING STATE SECRETS

THE STATE BANK’S GOVERNOR

Pursuant to the Law on the State Bank of Vietnam No. 01/1997/QH10 dated December 12, 1997;

Pursuant to the Law on Amendments to the Law on the State Bank of Vietnam No. 10/2003/QH11 dated June 17, 2003;

Pursuant to the Ordinance on Protection of State Secrets No. 03/2000/PL-UBTVQH10 dated December 28, 2000;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 33/2002/ND-CP imposing specific regulations on implementation of the Ordinance on State Secret Protection;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 86/2002/ND-CP dated November 5, 2002 defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structures of the Ministry and other Ministry-level bodies;

...

...

...

HEREBY DECIDES

Article 1. Enclose herewith the Regulations on protecting state secrets in the banking sector.

Article 2. It shall enter into force 15 days from the day of its publication in the Official Gazette.   The Decision No. 299/QD-NH4 of the State Bank’s Governor dated November 26, 1994 shall be repealed.

Article 3. The Chief of the Office, Chief Inspector, Directors of organs of the State Bank; Directors of the State Bank branches located in centrally-affiliated cities and provinces; Chairs of Management Boards, General Directors (Directors) of credit institutions, shall be responsible for implementing this Decision.

Le Duc Thuy

(Signed)

...

...

...

ON PROTECTING STATE SECRETS IN THE BANKING SECTOR.
(Issued together with the Decision No.1087/2003/QD-NHNN of the State Bank’s Governor dated September 17, 2003)

Chapter 1:

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1- State secrets in the banking sector include news about cases, matters, documents, objects, location, time, or voices containing important information in the banking sector, which have not yet released, are prohibited for release or the unauthorized disclosure of which could be expected to cause damage to security, politics, economy and other aspects of the State or sectors, and which are emplaced in the classification list of State secrets by competent authorities.

Article 2

1. These Regulations shall be applied to the State Bank’s network, credit institutions and banking enterprises (hereinafter referred to as governed entities), public officers, employees working in the banking sector and other organizations and individuals concerned. 

2. Any unauthorized collection, processing, disclosure, loss, appropriation, trading or elimination of national security or classified information in the banking sector shall be strictly prohibited. 

Chapter 2:

SPECIFIC PROVISIONS

...

...

...

1- Depending on their classification levels, documents or articles bearing state secrets shall be stamped with one of the security classification seals such as top secret, secret or confidential.  

2- When drafting documents containing state secrets, drafters shall assign the classification level to specific documents and approvers of these documents shall be responsible for deciding which of the above-mentioned classification seals is affixed and extent of circulation of these documents. 

3- Articles bearing state secrets must be protected by issuing attached written documents that provide explicit information about storage objects and are stamped with the classification seal.

4- Sample classification seal

- 4- Sample classification seal indicating “Confidential”

CONFIDENTIAL

It is shaped as a rectangle sized 20mm x 8mm, is surrounded by borders and has the inscription “CONFIDENTIAL” inside which is written in block capitals with bold rims and is evenly spaced at 2mm from its borders.  

- Sample classification seal indicating “Secret”

It is shaped as a rectangle sized 30mm x 8mm, is surrounded by borders and has the inscription “SECRET” inside which is written in block capitals with bold rims and is evenly spaced at 2mm from borders. 

...

...

...

SECRET

- Sample classification seal indicating “TOP SECRET”

TOP SECRET

It is shaped as a rectangle sized 40mm x 8mm, is surrounded by borders and has the inscription “TOP SECRET” inside which is written in block capitals with bold rims and is evenly spaced at 2mm from borders. 

- Sample seal indicating withdrawal of documents containing state secrets.

DOCUMENT TO BE WITHDRAWN

By…….

It is shaped as a rectangle sized 80mm x 15mm, is surrounded by borders and has two text lines inside, including the line "DOCUMENT TO BE WITHDRAWN" in block and bold capitals which is placed above the line “By….” in lower-case letters that are followed by full-stop marks. These two lines are evenly spaced at 2mm from borders. 

...

...

...

- Sample seal indicating “Only person named on the envelope is authorized to open this”

Only person named on the envelope is authorized to open this

It is shaped as a rectangle sized 100mm x 10mm, is surrounded by borders and has the text line “Only person named on the envelope is authorized to open it” inside which is written in bold lower-case letters and is evenly spaced at 2mm from borders. 

This seal shall be affixed to documents or articles bearing state secrets if they are designated as top secret ones, and only the receivers of them are authorized to open their envelopes to protect security for them. In this case, the receiver’s name shall be clearly written on the face of the envelope and the shipping entity shall be required to meet the receiver in person to hand the envelope to that receiver.

All abovementioned seals shall produce bright red ink.

The administrative office in charge of processing documents containing state secrets shall be responsible for managing and affixing these seals under the command of the head of an entity having authority over such department or the authority having competence in identification of the classification level as prescribed by regulations in force.

Article 4- Printing, duplication or photocopying of documents or articles bearing state secrets in the banking sector

Printing, duplication or photocopying of documents or articles bearing state secrets in the banking sector shall conform to the following regulations:

1. The State Bank’s Governor shall be vested with powers to print, duplicate or photocopy documents or articles containing state secrets in the banking sector which are classified at the Top Secret or Secret level, and shall be responsible for controlling the number of copies of these documents.   The Governor shall decentralize his powers to print, duplicate or photocopy documents or articles containing state secrets in the banking sector which are classified at the Confidential level to Heads of Departments, Agencies, public sector entities or enterprises belonging in the banking field, State Bank branches located centrally-affiliated cities or provinces, or credit institutions which directly manage such documents and articles containing state secrets.

...

...

...

3. After completion of the typing, printing, duplication or photocopying process, it shall be mandatory to affix the seal indicating the classification level or the seal indicating withdrawal (where necessary), number pages, count copies, determine the printing output, extent of circulation, place of receipt, name of the person typing, printing, controlling, duplicating or photocopying documents.

4. It shall be prohibitory that computers with Internet or other out-of-sector network connection shall not be used to type, print or duplicate classified documents.

5. Any document containing state secret which has been made available in a tape or disk format must be sealed, stamped with the classification seal, clearly display name of the duplicating or photocopying person onto the face of its envelope.     

Article 5- Transportation, delivery and receipt of documents or articles containing state secrets in the banking sector.

1. Transportation of documents or articles containing state secrets

a. During transportation of documents or articles containing state secrets, they must be stored in rigid packaging made of suitable materials; sealed in conformity with regulations in force when required; loaded on means of transport that meet safety standards under any circumstance; guarded by security personnel to ensure safety during transportation of such documents and articles, where necessary.   

b. National security or classified information which is transmitted by telecommunications equipment or via computer networks must be encoded in accordance with regulations of the State and specific sectors.

2. Delivery, receipt and withdrawal of documents or articles bearing state secrets.

Delivery and receipt of documents or articles containing state secrets between persons involved such as drafters, administrative office staff, shippers, responsible persons, and persons charged with keeping and storing them, etc. shall be recorded in books and verified by signatures of the sender and the receiver. 

...

...

...

- Recording documents or articles bearing state secrets in the book “Outgoing documents” for monitoring purposes. The book “Outgoing documents” must have all necessary information which have been fully filled out, such as ordinal numbers (also considered as number of the outgoing document), sending date (including particular day and year), place of receipt, description of main contents, classification level, urgency level, signer and remarks. In case of sending a document or article containing state secret which is classified at the top secret level, the data field indicating description of main contents shall be filled out only when the competent person gives his/her consent. Outgoing documents must be put into a closed envelope and handed to the administrative office to be put into the outer pack before sending.

- Creating particularly designed packs to contain particular outgoing documents bearing state secrets. Paper used for creating outer packs must be durable, water-resistant and cannot be seen through; glue must have high adhesive qualities and be hardly removable.

Documents or articles bearing state secrets which are classified at the "Confidential" level must have the symbol “C” on the face of the envelope (the symbol “C” is capitalized, bold, put inside a circle of which the diameter is 1.5 cm).  

Documents or articles bearing state secrets which are classified at the "Secret" level must have the symbol “B” on the face of the envelope (the symbol “B” is capitalized, bold, put inside a circle of which the diameter is 1.5 cm).

Documents or articles containing state secrets which are classified at the “Top Secret” level shall be stored in double packages:

+ Number, code of documents, name of the receiver and the classification seal “Top Secret” shall be written on the face of the secondary package. If the responsible person’s name is specified on this package, the seal “Only person named on the envelope is authorized to open this” shall be affixed.

+ Information shall be provided as normal documents or articles and the symbol “A” (the symbol “A” is capitalized, bold, put inside a circle of which the diameter is 1.5 cm) shall be affixed on the face of the primary package.

b. Receipt of documents or articles bearing state secrets

- All documents or articles bearing state secrets which are sent to different places of receipt shall be recorded into the book "Oncoming classified documents" by the administrative office for monitoring purposes and shall be passed to the responsible person. 

...

...

...

- On realizing that the place of receipt of oncoming documents or articles bearing state secrets fails to comply with security procedures, they shall be passed to the responsible person and inform that place to prevent such similar situation that may occur in the future.   If there is any suspicion that the package containing oncoming documents or articles bearing state secrets has been opened, state secrets have been leaked out or revealed, or these documents or articles have been replaced, lost or damaged, etc. the receiver must promptly report to the head of the body or entity involved for any timely action to be taken.

c. Withdrawal of documents containing state secrets

The administrative office shall be obliged to keep track of, take back or return to the sending place any document stamped with the mark “Documents to be withdrawn” by the specified deadline. It shall be mandatory that careful checking must be carried out during receipt or return of such documents to prevent any loss.

Article 6- Use of documents or articles bearing state secrets in the banking sector

1. All documents or articles containing state secrets must be used for valid purposes, subjects and within the scope for which they are intended for communication or study reasons.  Communication and study activities must be carried out at places where security and safety are ensured.

2. Any recording in the written, audio or visual format of documents or articles bearing state secrets shall be subject to consent from the State Bank's Governor or the head of the body directly managing such secrets. Any audio or video tapes shall be managed or protected like original documents.

Article 7- Inventory, storage and safekeeping of documents or articles bearing state secrets

Documents or articles bearing state secrets, after being completely processed, shall be enumerated, sorted and kept separately; safekept by using such security equipment as cabinets, trunks, safes, treasure holds or vaults, etc. Unauthorized movement of these documents or articles to outside areas shall be prohibited; where it is necessary to bring them home or on a business trip, the head of the body managing them shall consider giving his written consent and the person authorized to do this must register with the security department as well as implement the strict security plan.    In case of any damage, replacement, loss or disclosure of documents or articles bearing state secrets, the head of the body managing such documents or articles must be promptly informed to seek any timely solution. The head of the body directly managing state secrets in the banking sector must carry out regular inspection or undertake inventory, sorting, storage and safekeeping of state secrets within his jurisdiction.

Article 8- Safeguarding of areas or places where state secrets are safekept or activities relating to state secrets in the banking sector are carried out.

...

...

...

Article 9- Entities, organizations and individuals shall be strictly prohibited from providing national security or classified information in the banking sector for publishing, press and media agencies in any form.

Article 10- Provision of national security or classified information in the banking sector to Vietnamese bodies, organizations or citizens.

1- Any person charged with discovering and collecting national security or classified information in the banking sector must show his/her ID card and letter of introduction issued by his/her host body, clearly describe contents and requirements of such information discovery and collection activities and must obtain consent from the competent department of the body storing these state secrets.

2- Before providing national security or classified information in the banking sector for Vietnamese entities, organizations or citizens, the body directly managing state secrets must apply for approval from a competent authority in accordance with the following regulations:

a. Provision of information classified at the Top Secret or Secret level shall be subject to approval granted by the State Bank's Governor.

b. Provision of information classified at the Confidential level shall be subject to approval granted by the head of the body directly managing such secrets.

Article 11- Provision of national security or classified information in the banking sector to foreign organizations or individuals.

1- Entities or individuals in the banking sector, upon building relationship or meeting with foreign organizations or individuals (by participating in conferences, workshops, dialogues, talks, exchanging scientific documents, implementing cooperation programs or rendering public services, etc.), shall be prohibited from disclosing state secrets.    

2- In the course of carrying out international cooperation programs or rendering public services, if there is any demand for provision of national security or classified information to foreign organizations or individuals, the following rules shall be observed:

...

...

...

b. Providing only information approved by competent authorities in accordance with the following regulations:

- Provision of information classified at the Top Secret level shall be subject to the Prime Minister’s consent.

- Provision of information classified at the Secret level shall be subject to consent from the Minister of Public Security.

- Provision of information classified at the Confidential level shall be subject to consent from the State Bank's Governor.

c. Requesting the receiver of information to use it for predetermined purposes and not to disclose such information to any third party;

Article 12- Cross-border carriage of documents or articles bearing state secrets in the banking sector

Any public officer or employee working in the banking sector, who wishes to transport documents or articles bearing state secrets in the sector to overseas countries for business or scientific research purposes, must apply for written permission from the State Bank’s Governor.  The application for such permission shall clearly specify who carries these documents or articles, scope within which they are used and reasonable purposes. When completing exit clearance procedures at the border checkpoint, they must show their written application and approval of the State Bank’s Governor to the immigration authority.

During their stay in overseas countries, they must take proper action to manage and protect these documents or articles.  If such documents or articles are provided to foreign organizations or individuals, Article 11 of this Decision must be observed.

Article 13- Qualifications and responsibilities of officers undertaking tasks related to state secret in the banking sector.

...

...

...

2- Persons designated to work on state secrets in any form shall be required to strictly comply with legislation on protection of state secrets in force.

Article 14- Listing, change of classification level or decoding of state secrets.

In every December, banking-sector entities shall, on their own initiative, request the State Bank’s Governor to consider adding other necessary information to the list of state secrets, changing the classification level and decoding state secrets in the banking sector.  The General Department of Control shall be responsible for preparing a general report submitted to the Governor who then passes this to the Ministry of Public Security and the Prime Minister to seek any decision to be issued.

Article 15- Elimination of documents or articles bearing state secrets in the banking sector

1- Elimination of documents or articles bearing state secrets classified at the Top Secret or Secret level, which are no longer used, shall be subject to the decision issued by the State Bank's Governor.

2- Elimination of documents or articles bearing state secrets classified at the Confidential level, which are no longer used, shall be subject to the decision issued by the Head of the body directly managing these documents or articles.

3- During the elimination process, disclosure or leakage of documents or articles bearing state secrets shall be prohibited. Elimination must change configuration, functions and effects of articles considered as state secrets. The process shall involve burning, trimming or crushing of these documents or articles to the extent that they become unrecoverable.

Article 16- Inspection of compliance with regulations on protection of state secrets in the banking sector.

1- The head of the larger body in the banking sector shall conduct regular or unplanned inspection of compliance of their affiliations with regulations on protection of state secret. 

...

...

...

3- Inspection of compliance with regulations on protection of state secrets in the banking sector shall be carried out at least once every 2 years or without prior notice where necessary.

4- During the inspection or self-inspection process, achievements, shortcomings, defects or mistakes should be detected and corrective actions should be recommended. After each inspection, a report shall be sent to the State Bank’s Governor (via the General Department of Control) and then passed to the Ministry of Public Security for further monitoring purpose.

Article 17- System of reporting, whether preliminary or final, of the task of protecting state secrets in the banking sector.

1- There shall be 2 types of report, including:

a. (Spontaneous) reports on cases or matters relating to disclosure or loss of state secrets that have occurred or on violations against laws on protection of state secrets, which cause harm to national security, interests of the State or the sector. This type of report shall be prepared by the Heads of bodies in the sector (where such cases or matters took place).

b. Comprehensive reports on protection of state secrets in the sector which is prepared annually in January of the following year by the Heads of bodies in the sector.

These reports shall be sent to the General Department of Control and then combined to form a general report in the entire sector.

2- Preliminary reports shall be prepared annually and a final report shall be made every 5 years. Preliminary reports or final reports on protection of state secrets in the banking sector shall be submitted to the Prime Minister and deposited with the Ministry of Public Security. The General Department of Control shall undertake coordination with relevant entities in such implementation.

Chapter 3:

...

...

...

Article 18- Rewards

Any entity, organization or citizen that performs the following activities shall be rewarded in accordance with laws in force:

1. Discovering and reporting acts such as illegal collection, leakage, loss, appropriation, trading or elimination of state secrets in a timely manner.

2. Overcoming all difficulties and taking all risks to secure state secrets.

3. Recovering documents or articles bearing state secrets which were lost; preventing or mitigating consequences that arise due to illegal collection, leakage, loss, appropriation, trading or elimination of state secrets by other persons.

4. Excelling at performing the task of protecting state secrets under its mandate.

Article 19- Disciplinary actions

All violations of regulations on state secrets in the banking sector shall be put under investigation. Violators shall be subject to disciplinary actions, administrative penalties or criminal proceedings, depending on the severity or the harmful effects of violations.

Chapter 4:

...

...

...

Article 20. Revision or supplementation of these Regulations shall be subject to the decision issued by the State Bank's Governor.