Protective Marking Scheme (UK) meaning

In UK legal practice this describes the government system for classifying the sensitivity of information on documents and correspondence, frequently encountered in public procurement, regulatory investigations, disclosure and matters involving the civil nuclear sector. Since 2014 the former Government Protective Marking Scheme has been replaced by the Government Security Classifications (GSC). Current protective markings are OFFICIAL (including the handling caveat OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE), SECRET and TOP SECRET. Legacy terms such as UNCLASSIFIED, NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED, NON and the former levels PROTECT, RESTRICTED and CONFIDENTIAL are obsolete and should not be used. The scheme is set by government policy (HMG Security Policy Framework and GSC policy), not primary legislation, but it interacts with statutory regimes including the Official Secrets Act 1989, the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) exemptions, data protection law and the Nuclear Industries Security Regulations 2003. In the civil nuclear sector, documents containing sensitive nuclear information are typically marked with the appropriate GSC level and flagged as SENSITIVE NUCLEAR INFORMATION (SNI) in line with ONR guidance. Markings guide handling, storage, redaction and disclosure, and are often referenced in confidentiality clauses, security schedules and court directions. Usage is consistent across England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland; it does not apply in Ireland,...