首页  档案法规  国家档案法规

中华人民共和国档案法(英文版)

Archives Law of the People's Republic of  China

(Adopted at the 22nd Meeting of the  Standing Committee of the Sixth National People's Congress on September  5,1987,and revised in accordance with the Decision on the Revision of the  Archives Law of the People's Republic of China adopted at the 20th Meeting of  the Standing Committee Of the Eighth National People's Congress on July 5,  1996)  

 Contents

 

Chapter I    General  Provisions

 

Chapter II   Archives  Institutions and Their Responsibilities

 

Chapter III  Administration of  Archives

 

Chapter IV  Use and  Publication of Archives

 

Chapter V   Legal  Responsibility

 

Chapter VI  Supplementary  Provisions

Chapter I   General Provisions

 Article 1 This Law is enacted  with a view to strengthening the management, collection and arrangement of  archives and effectively protecting and using archives in the service of  socialist modernization. 

 Article 2 For the purpose of  this Law, "archives" means historical records in various forms, including  writings in different 1anguages, pictures, diagrams, audio-visual, etc., whose  preservation is of value to the State and society and which have been or are  being directly formed by State organs, public organizations and individuals in  their political, military, economic, scientific, technological, cultural,  religious and other activities.   

Article 3 Every State organ, unit of the armed forces, political  party, public organization, enterprise and institution and every citizen  sha1l have the obligation to protect  archives.   

Article 4 The people's governments at various levels shall strengthen  their leadership in archival work and incorporate the development of  undertakings of archives into the program of the national economic and social  development.   

Article 5 In archival work, the  principle of unified leadership and administration at different levels shall be  practiced in order to ensure the integrity and safety of archives and facilitate  their use by people of various quarters of society.  

Chapter II Archives Institutions and Their Responsibilities  

 Article 6 The national archives  administration department shall be responsible for archival work throughout the  country. It shall make an overal1 p1an, coordinate the organizations, unify the  systems, and exercise supervision and provide guidance with regard to the  undertakings of archives in the whole country.  

The archives administration departments of the People's governments  at or above the county level shall be responsible for the undertakings of  archives within their respective administrative areas. They shall supervise and  direct the archiva1 work of the State organs, public organizations, enterprises,  institutions and other organizations under their jurisdiction. 

The people's governments of townships, nationality townships and  towns shall designate personnel to take charge of preserving the archives of  their own offices and to supervise and direct the archival work of their  subordinate units.   

Article 7 The archives institutions or archivists of State organs,  public organizations, enterprises, institutions and other organizations shall be  responsib1e for preserving the archives of their own units and supervise and  direct the archival work of their subordinate units.   

Article 8 The nationa1 archives repositories and local archives  repositories of various types at or above the county level shall be cultural  institutions for the centralized administration of archives. They shall be  responsib1e for receiving, collecting, arranging and keeping archives within  their respective jurisdiction and making them available to users.   

Article 9 Archivists shall be devoted to their duty, observe  discipline and possess professional knowledge. 

Units and individuals that have made outstanding achievements in the  collection, arrangement and protection of archives and in making them available  to users shall be rewarded by the People's governments at the relevant  levels.  

Chapter III Administration of Archives  

Article 10 Materials of a unit that shou1d be filed and kept as  archives pursuant to State regulations must, in accordance with the re1evant  regu1ations, be regularly handed over to the archives division or archivists of  the unit for centralized administration. Nobody may keep such materials as his  personal property. 

Materials that shou1d not be kept as archives pursuant to State  regulations shall not be kept as archives without due authorization.  

Article 11 State organs, public organizations, enterprises,  institutions and other organizations must, in accordance with State regu1ations,  regularly hand over archives to the archives repositories  concerned.  

Article 12 The cu1tura1 re1ics, books and reference materials which  are kept in museums, libraries and memorial halls and are concurrent1y archives  may be administered by the above-mentioned units in accordance with the  provisions of laws and administrative rules and regulations.  

Archives repositories shall cooperate with the above-mentioned units  in the use of archives. 

Article 13 Archives repositories of all types and at all levels and  archives divisions of State organs, public organizations, enterprises,  institutions and other organizations shall establish a system of scientific  administration to facilitate the use of archives. They shall be equipped with  necessary facilities to ensure the safety of the archives. They shall adopt  advanced techno1ogy to modernize the administration of archives.  

Article 14 The administration and use of confidential archives,  changes in their security classification, and the declassification of such  archives must be effected according to the provisions of the laws and  administrative rules and regulations of the State regarding  secrecy.  

Article 15 The princip1es by which the value of archives for  preservation is appraised, the standards for determining the periods of  preservation, and the procedures and methods for destroying archives shall be  formulated by the national archives administration department. Unauthorized  destruction of archives shall be prohibited.  

Article 16 Collectively-owned or individually-owned archives whose  preservation is of value to the State and society or which should be kept  confidential shal1 be properly taken care of by the owners. If the archives are  considered 1iable to serious damage or unsafe because of the adverse conditions  under which they are kept or because of any other reason, the national archives  administration department shall have the right to take such measures as may  ensure the integrity and safety of the archives, such as by keeping the archives  on the owner's behalf or, when necessary, by purchasing such archives or  requisitioning them by purchase. 

With respect to the archives mentioned in the preceding paragraph,  owners may deposit them with or sell them to State archives repositories;  selling of such archives to any units or individuals other than State archives  repositories shall, according to relevant State regulations, be subject to  approval of the archives administration departments of the people's governments  at or above the county leve1. It shall be strictly forbidden to sell such  archives for profit, or to sell them or give them to foreigners. 

Whoever donates archives to the State shall be rewarded by the  archives repositories concerned.  

Article 17 The sale of archives owned by the State shall be  prohibited. 

Specific measures for the simultaneous transfer of records regarding  the assets to be transferred by State-owned enterprises or institutions shall be  formulated by the national archives administration department. 

The exchange, transfer and sale of duplicates of archives shall be  handled according to State regulations.  

Article 18 State-owned archives and the archives specified in Article  l6 of this Law as well as dup1icates of such archives shall not be carried or  transported out of the country without authorization. 

 Chapter  IV  Use and Publication of  Archives

 Article 19 Archives kept by  State archives repositories shall in general be open to the public upon the  expiration of 30 years from the date of their formation. Archives in economic,  scientific, technological and cultural fields may be open to the public in less  than 30 years; archives involving the security or vital interests of the State  and other archives which remain unsuitable for accessibility to the public upon  the expiration of 30 years may be open to the public after more than 30 years.  The specific time limits shall be defined by the national archives  administration department and submitted to the State Council for approval before  they become effective. 

Archives repositories shall regularly publish catalogues of records  that are open to the public, create conditions and simplify procedures for the  convenient use of archives. 

Citizens and organizations of the People's Republic of China possessing lawful identifications may  use archives which are open to the public.  

Article 20 State organs, public organizations, enterprises,  institutions, other organizations and citizens may, according to needs in  economic construction, national defense construction, education, scientific  research and other work, and pursuant to the relevant regulations, use the  archives which are not yet open to the public and the archives which are  preserved by relevant State organs, public organizations, enterprises,  institutions or other organizations.  

Measures for using the archives that are not yet open to the public  shall be laid down by the national archives administration department and  competent authorities.  

Article 2l Units or individuals  that have transferred or donated archives to archives repositories or deposited  archives with them sha11 have priority in the use of such archives and may  propose restrictions on the use of parts of the archives that are not suitable  for accessibility to the public, and the archives repositories shall protect the  lawful rights and interests of such units or individuals.  

Article 22 State-owned archives shall be made public by archives  repositories or State organs authorized by the State; no organization or  individual shall have the right to make public such archives without permission  from such archives repositories or State organs. 

With respect to collectively-owned or individually-owned archives,  the owners shall have the right to make them public but they must abide by the  relevant State regulations, and may not endanger the security and interests of  the State or encroach upon the lawful rights and interests of  others.  

Article 23 Archives repositories of all types and at al1 leve1s shal1  have research personnel to improve research in arrangement of archives, and  compile and publish archives in a planned way for distribution within various  circles.  

Chapter V  Legal Responsibility  

Article 24 If any of the following acts is committed, the archives  administration department of the people's government at or above the county  level, or the competent authorities concerned shall, in accordance with law,  impose administrative sanctions on persons directly in charge or other persons  directly responsib1e for the case; and if the case constitutes a crime, criminal  responsibility shall be investigated according to law: 

(l ) damaging or losing State-owned archives; 

(2) providing, transcribing, publicizing, or destroying State-owned  archives without authorization; 

(3) altering or forging archives; 

(4) selling or transferring archives without authorization in  violation of Article l6 or Article l7 of this Law; 

(5) selling archives for profit or selling or giving archives to  foreigners; 

(6) failing to file records in accordance with regu1ations or failing  to transfer archives as scheduled, in violation of the provisions of Article 10  or Article 11 of this Law; 

(7) failing to adopt any measures for the archives being preserved,  with know1edge that they arc in danger, thus causing damage to the archives;  or 

(8) causing losses to archives as a result of neglect of duty on the  part of archivists. 

"Whoever commits an illegal act as specified in sub-paragraph (l),  (2) or (3) of the preceding paragraph in the course of using records of an  archives repository, the archives administration department of the people's  government at or above the county level shall give him a warning and may also  impose a penalty; those who have caused losses shall be ordered to compensate  the losses.  

If an enterprise, institution or individual commits an illegal act as  specified in sub-paragraph (4) or (5) of the first paragraph, the archives  administration department of the people's government at or above the county  level shall issue a warning, and may also impose a pena1ty; the illegal income,  if there is any, shall be confiscated; and the archives that have been sold or  given away may be requisitioned by purchase according to the provisions of  Article 16 of the Law.  

Article 25 If anyone carries or transports archives or duplicates  thereof, the exit of which from the country is forbidden, out of the territory  of China, such archives or duplicates thereof shall be confiscated by the  Customs, a penalty may also be imposed; and the confiscated archives or  duplicates thereof shall be transferred to the archives administration  department; if the case constitutes a crime, criminal responsibility shall be  investigated according to law.  

Chapter VI Supplementary Provisions

 Article 26 Measures for the  implementation of this Law shall be formulated by the national archives  administration department and shall enter into force after being submitted to  and approved by the State Council.  

Article 27 This Law shall come into force as of January l,  l988.


来源:国家档案局网站  http://www.saac.gov.cn/xxgk/node_141.htm



上一篇:下一篇: