Freedom of Information Center of Armenia.

With view to receiving information on the documents declassified in Armenia during 2018, on 20 February 2019 the Freedom of Information Center sent an electronic request to 21 public bodies, requesting to provide the list of the documents held by them, declassified in 2018.

All structures replied to the FOIC’s request within the timeframes defined by law. 16 out of 21 bodies informed that no document held by them was declassified during 2018.

Only 5 state bodies informed about declassified documents. The replies received from these bodies however confirm that declassification does not necessarily suggest that the respective document is already made public and is open to everyone. Although 4 out of 5 bodies having declassified documents officially replied that they have declassified tens of documents, they did not provide these documents, in one case mentioning that they transferred these documents to the National Archive (Staff of the Prime Minister of Armenia) and in another case (Police and National Security Service) noting that declassification does not mean that the documents no longer contain a secret (for instance, personal data). In the third case (Ministry of Defense) it was mentioned that the only declassified document, the well-known Decree No. 0038, was confiscated by the body conducting criminal procedure, thus rejecting its provision.

Complete reply was provided only by the Ministry of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources. The Ministry has declassified one two-page document in 2018 – “Enlarged Agency List of Data Subject to Classification by the Ministry and its System (http://www.givemeinfo.am/hy/case/2621/). 

It appears that even the change of power and revolution have not paved the way for the practice of declassifying and publicizing documents previously considered a secret and having secrecy status for decades.