Implementation of the Law on archival material and archival activity begins
On February 2, 2021, began the implementation of the new Law on Archival Materials and Archival Activities (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 6/2020), adopted by the National Assembly of RS on January 24, 2020.
For the first time, the law regulates issues such as archival material that is originally created in electronic form, obligations of creators and holders of archival material and documentary material in electronic form, records of creators and holders of archival material, then archival material of legal entities that were social (društvena svojina) property or state owned, as well as a number of other issues.
The new law defines archival material as permanently preserved documentary material, which is selected original, and in the absence of the original, any reproduced form of document or record created by the work and activities of state bodies and organizations, territorial autonomy bodies and local governments, institutions , public enterprises, holders of public authority, companies, entrepreneurs, persons performing registered activities, religious communities, as well as other legal or natural persons, and are of lasting importance for culture, art, science, education and other social areas, regardless of on when and where they originated, and whether they are located in institutions for the protection of cultural property or outside them, and regardless of the form and medium of the record on which they are preserved.
The creator of archival material and documentary material is a legal or natural person whose activities create archival material and documentary material. The holder of archival material and documentary material is the holder of the right to archival material and documentary material (owner, i.e. holder of another property right or party in an obligatory relationship) or any other (legal or natural) person who, in any way and on any basis has possession over it.
As the most significant obligations of the creator and the owner, who is not a natural person, we emphasize the following:
-to provide adequate space and equipment for the storage and protection of archival material and documentary material;
-to appoint a responsible expert for the protection of archival material and documentary material and the handling of archival material and documentary material;
-to record, mark, classify, date and archive archival material and documentary material;
-to keep an archive book on the prescribed form;
-to submit to the competent archive a transcript of the archive book no later than April 30 of the current year, for documentary material created in the previous year;
-to inform the competent public archive about all changes that are important for the archive material no later than 30 days from the day of their occurrence.
The creator and holder, who is not a natural person, is also obliged to bring:
1.general act on the manner of recording, classification, archiving and storage of archival material and documentary material;
2.a list of categories of archival material and documentary material with retention periods;
3.general act on the manner of recording, protection, and use of electronic documents.
For non-compliance with the obligations prescribed by law, fines are envisaged for a legal entity in the amount of 50,000 to 2,000,000 dinars, and from 5,000 to 150,000 dinars for a responsible person in a legal entity.
If you have any additional questions or need more detailed information on the implementation of this Law, you can contact us at the email address office@ctlegal.rs
