Article XIX, an international NGO based in London, considers the draft law on state secret, adopted by the Moldovan parliament in the first reading on October 16, contains a series of drawbacks jeopardizing the right to the freedom of speech and the access to information. In an official memo concerning the draft on state secret, quoted by Info-Prim Neo, Article XIX says the draft leaves many questions unanswered as to the definition of “state secret”, and to the classification procedure. In the NGO's view, the definition is worded too generally and includes the information created and held by private persons, as the classifying procedure and excessively wide, allowing to label as state secret information unrelated directly to national security, as is the business, scientific or public administration information. Article XIX believes “the test of the prejudice” used to establish the classification degree is very weak and the duration, too long. The organization is worried to find the draft disregards the prevailing of the public interest and hesitates to offer protection to people having unveiled information about committing some breech. The international NGO is also concerned about the fact that protecting the information classified as state secret will be controlled by security services. Article XIX maintains that Moldova, due to its commitments assumed by signing the International Pact on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention of Human Rights, shall bring the draft in accordance with the international standards. It suggests to modify the legislation so as to give prevalence to the law on the access to information over the state secret law. Plus, it suggests to modify the draft by an amendment stipulating that the information can be publicized in case the public interest prevails. The new law is to replace the law on the state secret dating back to 1994.