State Archives of Latvia - Actual information

New Archives Law in Latvia

The new Archives Law had been enacted by Saeima in the middle of February and proclaimed by the President of the Republic in March 3, 2010. It will come into the force in January 1, 2011 and replace the Law on Archives, that was passed in 1991.

The aim of the Law is to provide for the formation, collection, appraisal, preservation, access and use of the national documentary heritage.

The Law defines the concept of the national documentary heritage, replacing the previous one, dating back to the Soviet archival science – "National archive fund". National documentary heritage is a part of the national cultural heritage, which is composed by: documents of the National Archives, and documents of public institutions and private persons with archival value;

The Law will provide for the formation of a new archives institution – National Archives, combining within one body the functions of the present 17 archives institutions. The National Archives will have functional and territorial structural units.

The Law will relate to every public or private person, which by a normative act or a public rights contract is given the authority of state power, as well as in cases, provided in this Law – to private persons, having in their possession documents with archival value. Upon mutual agreement with the private persons, these documents will be included into the register of the national documentary heritage.

The Law requires:

- for all public institutions to carry out proper documentation of their activities, thus implementing the principle of accountability, existing in every democratic society;

- active work of the National Archives in the supervision of records management in public institutions.

The Law will prolong the storage time of documents in the institutions before handing them over to the National Archive from the present 10 to 15 years.

The Law will envisage that private companies, wishing to provide archive services to the public persons (e.g., the arrangement and storage of documents) will need accreditation and certified employees. Accreditation will be carried out according to a special procedure, specified by the Cabinet of Ministers. The certificate will confirm that the particular employee has the necessary means and competence for the provision of archive services. The Ministry of Culture will delegate the certification to a professional society.

The Archives Law provides for the restriction of access to documents, containing sensitive personal data. The access is restricted for 30 years after the death of the person to whom the document concerns. If the date of death of the person is impossible to determine, the access is restricted for 110 years after the birth of the person to whom the document concerns. If neither the date of the person's death, nor birth can be determined, the access to the document is restricted for 75 years after the creation of the document. The general closure period to records related to foreign and internal affairs and state security will be applied for 30 years.