(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.
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