Hong Kong government clings to its secrets as fewer records declassified
Records Office is opening up a decreasing number of secret files for public view under its code to declassify documents after 30 years
The Government Records Service has been releasing fewer and fewer secret records over the past five years when they become eligible for declassification under a 30-year principle.
And even when documents are released, the public may never know about them - as the Government Records Service (GRS) never announces what new files have been opened.
Unlike in Britain and the United States where declassification falls under freedom of information laws, here the 30-year rule principle is only part of a government code on public records access. And the release rate has dropped from 61 per cent in 2008, to 46 per cent in 2010, to 41 per cent in 2012, according to figures given by the GRS in response to an inquiry by the South China Morning Post.
Most of the unopened files are "to be reviewed again later" by their originating bureaus or departments.