National Security Regulations

The National Security Act

(1) State of War

(a) A State of War will automatically exist after successfully been declared a natural enemy or any military attack on the sovereign soil of Belgium.

(b) A State of War may also be declared in the case of any military attack on the sovereign soil of a foreign nation or on any sovereign soil of Belgium that is under the occupation of a foreign nation.

(c) A State of War may only be declared by the president.

(d) During a State of War the president may propose laws (including but not limited to MPP's, Declarations of War, etc.).

e) Proposed laws during a State of War will be voted on by appointees to the Security Council (See Security Council Act) to be considered valid and legitimate.

(f) A State of War will remain in effect until the military crisis has passed or for a maximum of 168 hours. An extension of the State of War may be declared after the 168 hours if required.

(2) State of Emergency

(a) A State of Emergency will automatically exist when Belgium is the victim of a successful PTO of both the Presidency and Congress or when the nation has lost its last region.

(b) A State of Emergency may also be declared during any crisis that would threaten the sovereignty of eBelgium such as but not limited to a successful PTO of either the Presidency or Congress or the imminent loss of the country to foreign occupation.

(c) A State of Emergency may only be declared by the president or in his absence the vice president.

(d) In the case of a successful PTO of the Presidency or the complete loss of the country to foreign occupation Congress (or the Emergency Congress in the case of a simultaneous PTO of Congress) may either pronounce the Vice President as interim Country President or elect an interim Country President who will institute an Emergency Government or Government in Exile which shall remain in office until replaced by a legitimate in-game election of a new Country President.

(e) A State of Emergency will remain in effect until the crisis has passed or for a maximum of 168 hours. An extension of the State of War may be declared after the 168 hours if required.


(3) Anti-PTO Procedures

(a) A Political Take Over (PTO) is when a highly organized group originating outside of Belgium, often with the aid of multi-accounts or cheating, attempts to gain political power in Belgium through victories in elections. A Political Take Over is defined by, but not restricted to, the attempt to restrain Belgium’s autonomy, oppress the historical citizenry and culture, and make her directly subordinate to another eNation(s).

(b) As the approval of Citizenship Requests are a matter of National Security due to possible Political Take Over (PTO) attempts, the President or the person in charge of security will be allowed to close Immigration. When immigration is closed no congressman is allowed to give anybody Belgian Citizenship.

(c) The Minister who is in charge of security has the responsibility to formulate procedures to assist in the prevention of any possible Political Take Over (PTO) of the Presidency, Congress, or any Political Party in consultation with the President, Congress, and the Party Presidents respectively.

(d) Anti-PTO procedures could include the use of blocking candidates, forum pre-votes, etc. while maintaining democracy to as large an extent as is possible under the specific circumstances or level of threat.

(e) Each Political Party is entitled to an Election Monitor to liaise with the Minister who is in charge of security and oversee the Anti-PTO procedures being implemented. The agreement of 2 or more Election Monitors will be required for any objection, appeal or complaint to be valid. Procedures for selecting a Party Election Monitor are to be determined by the party concerned.

(f) Anti-PTO procedures may include a regular dummy proposal to Impeach the President at a strategic time during each Presidential term so as to effectively be able to impeach any PTO President as soon as possible after the Presidential elections. The Minister who is in charge of security will ask Congress to propose this dummy Impeachment in-game at least 24 hours before it being required but in this case no Forum Discussion or Forum Vote will be required before proceeding to an in-game vote.

(g) A Forum Debate or Forum Vote will not be required during a State of Emergency in which case the Impeachment of a rogue or PTO President may immediately proceed to an in-game vote.

(4.) Amendments to this Act

Amendments to this Act can be proposed by any member of Congress and will be subject to the same Proposal Debate and Forum Vote requirement as any other proposal, but will require a majority vote of more than 50% to pass.

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
The FOIA is premised on transparency, democracy, and honesty. The FOIA ensures that the community of eBelgium has access to past discussions that were once classified as a "State Secret". Once discussions in the private Congress forum have lost their "State Secret" status (see The State Secrets Act, Title II), they will be made available for viewing in the public Congress forum by forum staff, designated with the [FOIA] tag.

Threads designated as "Classified" (see see The State Secrets Act, Title I, (2)), and discussions relating to immigration approval/disapproval are exempt from the FOIA.

A simple majority is required to amend or repeal this law.

Medrolke wrote:The States Secrets Act

Title I – Classification of State Secrets
a) All discussions in private forums are designated secrets of the state and therefore protected from disclosure by this act unless they are concerned with information that is already public available. An exception to this designation would be private forums which are created simply as a convenience for carrying out the work of the government. Nevertheless, information found in these areas ought not to be disclosed without the express permission of the thread's creator unless it has already been agreed to make it public or it involves a violation of law.
b) For a thread to be marked as classified, it must satisfy both of the following:
1. It must not be publicly viewable.
2. It must be clearly stated by its creator that national security is involved.

Title II – Disclosure of State Secrets
a) The designation of state secret expires after 30 days from the last post.
b) An extended time limit must be proposed and seconded by two others with access to the topic, with exception of the forum admin.
c) State secrets may only be disclosed before the time limit is up under the following two conditions:
1. Unanimous decision by all the participating members.
2. Use as evidence in a government trial or investigation.

Title III – Punishments for Unlawful Disclosure of State Secrets
a) If a person is accused of unlawfully disclosing a piece of information that is protected by this act, that person must stand before a government trial.
b) The accused person will immediately lose his/her access to the classified forum that they are accused of leaking information from for the duration of the investigation and trial.
c) If said person is found guilty, the jurors overseeing the trial may award punishments based on the severity of the leak.
d) The maximum punishment that may be given is a six month ban from holding another government position.