Secrecy classification is the secrecy level indicator assigned to a given item of information at a national level.

There are four secrecy classifications:

• top secret
• secret
• confidential
• restricted

Secrecy classifications are assigned by the information originator based on the seriousness of the danger that the unauthorized disclosure of such information would cause to the State’s security.

As to their effects, secrecy classifications:

• limit the access to a given piece of information only to those who:
  - need to know it while performing their duties
   - know how to correctly handle and preserve it
   - have appropriate security clearance
• involve provisions designed by the Ufficio centrale per la sicurezza (UCSe) [Central Secrecy Office] of the DIS to ensure restricted access to such piece of information. Each secrecy level involves specific protection-related prescriptions (preservation, reproduction, etc.) Such prescriptions are in proportion to the importance of the interests protected, thus increasingly stricter as secrecy level rises from restricted to top secret
• do not prevent Judicial authorities from knowing about it. If Judicial authorities, however, obtain classified information in the exercise of their powers, they must ensure its protection, while ensuring the rights of the parties involved in the proceedings to examine it

If the information originates in an international context – Council of the European Union, Commission of the European Communities, and other international organizations – such information is also marked with a security qualification indicating the originating entity or organization to whom it belongs.

The UCSe is in charge of negotiating and arranging security agreements with international organizations and foreign countries.