OREANDA-NEWS  The key lower house of the Japanese parliament has passed a bill to create a system of access to classified information related to economic security.

The plenary session was broadcast on the website of the lower house of Parliament.

Under the new system, the government gets the opportunity to classify certain information as classified if it believes that its leakage may threaten the national or economic security of the country. In particular, we are talking about data on new developments or technologies, supply chains and security systems.

Civil servants and employees of private companies who will apply for admission to such information will have to undergo a thorough check, in particular, an analysis of the family circle, including their nationality, the presence of offenses in the past, drug or alcohol dependence, and so on.

The secrecy stamp will be imposed on the data with an initial period of five years with the possibility of extension up to 30 years. Disclosure of classified data can result in up to five years in prison or a fine of up to 5 million yen (about 33 thousand dollars). The system also provides for the possibility of imposing fines for private companies if their staff is caught disclosing classified information.

Now the bill will be sent to the upper house of the Japanese Parliament for consideration.