The Supreme Security Council (SSC) has the constitutional power to ask other administrative authorities and autonomous public legal entities to provide information about national security, defense and public order, the Constitutional Court (CC) held following a requisition filed by MP Sergiu Sîrbu. The Court ruled that the text “and other information” form Article 12, par. (7) of the Law on State Security is unconstitutional, IPN reports.
In a press briefing, CC president Domnica Manole said that paragraph (8) of Article 12 of the Law on State Security institutes accountability for the authorities that refuse to furnish the information requested by the Supreme Security Council. The Court identified two categories of information in the law: “any data and information, including those that represent state, banking or commercial secret that refers to national security, defense and public order” and “other information”.
According to the Court, to obey the constitutional principles, the public authorities and the autonomous public legal entities must determine, depending on the circumstances of each case, when they receive requests for information from the SSC, if the requested information is intended for legitimate purposes and if there is no disproportionate interference in the right to respect for the private life of the person. The request for such information, including information that represents state, banking or commercial secret, does not free the SSC members from the legal obligation to keep this confidential and to use it only for the purpose for which it was requested.
As regards the second category of information, the CC held that the law does not specify what kind of information is meant and this formulation is thus a source of legal uncertainty owing to its very general character.
The Supreme Security Council is a consultative body that analyzes the activity of ministries and other central administrative authorities in the field of national security and presents recommendations to the President of the Republic of Moldova concerning foreign and national policy matters.
