On Tuesday, the Spanish Cabinet approved the Classified Information Bill, which will now be sent to Congress for parliamentary processing. This legislation introduces automatic declassification after a maximum period of forty-five years, extendable by fifteen years. It replaces the long-standing Official Secrets Act from nineteen sixty-eight. Importantly, the bill stipulates that information concerning major human rights violations cannot be classified.

The new law seeks to align Spain with advanced democracies regarding transparency. It requires that historical documents, particularly related to the Franco regime and major events like the attempted coup of February twenty-third, nineteen eighty-one, be made accessible as long as national security is not compromised. The Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, highlighted that these changes meet European Commission recommendations aimed at improving citizens’ access to official information.

The bill categorises classified information into four levels: ‘Top Secret’, ‘Secret’, ‘Confidential’, and ‘Restricted’, with varying classification periods based on the potential harm from unauthorized disclosure. The law also strengthens parliamentary access to classified information, ensuring Congress can review essential data through a dedicated commission.

Additionally, the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory has urged the government to avoid blocking access to sensitive documents about the Catholic Church’s role during the dictatorship and military matters related to the Nazi era. Human rights organisation Amnesty International has expressed support for the law, emphasising that human rights violations should never be classified as official secrets.