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258: Relevant agency entitled to be party to proceedings involving classified information
or “Agency owning classified information can join related court cases”
You could also call this:

“How the Tribunal and courts handle secret information in immigration cases”

The Tribunal and courts have special rules for handling classified information in immigration cases. If the Minister or a refugee and protection officer used classified information to make a decision that’s being appealed or reviewed, they must give that information to the Tribunal or court. They need to check with the head of the relevant agency before sharing it.

You need to keep this classified information secret, even if you think it shouldn’t be classified. This rule applies during and after the case. Only the head of the relevant agency can allow the information to be released.

When there’s a hearing involving classified information, you must hear it in private. This includes any information given as classified and any arguments about that information.

To keep the information secret, you can make special orders. You can stop people from talking about the evidence or arguments in public. You can also stop people from naming witnesses. You might even need to keep some people out of parts of the hearing, including the person appealing, their representative, or court staff.

These orders can be permanent or for a set time. You can extend them if needed, and you can review permanent orders at any time.

These rules don’t change other laws that let the government keep information secret if sharing it would harm the public interest.

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Next up: 260: Ancillary general practices and procedures to protect classified information

or “Agreed practices to safeguard sensitive information in legal cases”
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Part 7 Appeals, reviews, and other proceedings
General provisions relating to proceedings involving classified information

259Obligation and powers of Tribunal and courts in relation to classified information

  1. The Minister or a refugee and protection officer (as appropriate) must provide to the Tribunal or a court (as appropriate) classified information—

  2. relied on in making a decision that is appealed or subject to review proceedings in accordance with this Act; or
    1. first raised in the course of an appeal to, or a matter before, the Tribunal.

      1. Before providing the classified information, the Minister or the refugee and protection officer must consult the chief executive of the relevant agency.

      2. The Tribunal and the courts must keep confidential and must not disclose any information provided as classified information, even if they consider that the information does not meet the criteria set out in section 7(2) and (3), unless the chief executive of the relevant agency consents to its release.

      3. Subsection (3) applies both during and after completion of proceedings involving classified information.

      4. In any oral hearing, the Tribunal and the courts must receive or hear the following in a closed hearing:

      5. any information provided as classified information:
        1. any submissions in relation to information provided as classified information.

          1. In any proceedings involving classified information, the Tribunal or a court may, in order to comply with subsection (3), make 1 or more of the following orders:

          2. an order forbidding publication of any report or account of the whole or any part of the evidence adduced or the submissions made in the proceedings:
            1. an order forbidding the publication of the name of any witness or witnesses, or any name or particulars likely to lead to the identification of any witness or witnesses:
              1. subject to subsection (5), an order excluding any person from the whole or any part of the Tribunal's or the court's proceedings, including—
                1. the appellant or the appellant's representative; or
                  1. the affected person or the affected person's representative; or
                    1. staff of the Tribunal or court.

                    2. An order made under subsection (6)—

                    3. may be made for a limited period or permanently; and
                      1. if it is made for a limited period, may be renewed for a further period or periods by the Tribunal or the court; and
                        1. if it is made permanently, may be reviewed by the Tribunal or the court at any time.

                          1. Nothing in this section limits section 27 of the Crown Proceedings Act 1950 or any rule of law that authorises or requires the withholding of a document or the refusal to answer a question on the ground that the disclosure of the document or the answering of the question would be injurious to the public interest.

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