Table of Contents
Chapter I.General Principles
Chapter II.Archives Organizations and Their Duties
Chapter III.The Management of Archives
Chapter IV.The Use and Publication of Archives
Chapter V. Legal Responsibilities
Chapter VI.Supplementary Provisions
Chapter I. General Principles
Article 1. This law is formulated in order to strengthen the management, collection, and arrangement of archives, and to effectively protect and use archives in an effort to facilitate socialist modernization drive.
Article 2. The archives referred to in this law are different forms of historic records, including words, graphs, and audio and visual tapes, that have arisen directly from state organs, social organizations, and individuals while previously and currently engaging in political, military, economic, scientific, technological, cultural, and religious activities, and that are worthy to be preserved for the country and society.
Article 3. All state organs, armed forces, political parties, social organizations, enterprises, establishments, and citizens are obligated to protect the archives.
Article 4. People's governments at various levels should strengthen leadership over the work on archives and integrate the development of archives in their respective national economic and social development plans.
Article 5. We shall apply the principle whereby the archive work is under a unified leadership but is respectively managed at various levels so that archives are comprehensive and safe and can be easily used by various social sectors.
Chapter II. Archives Organizations and Their Duties
Article 6. State government archive administrative departments are in charge of archive work across China. They shall facilitate the overall planning, organization, coordination, and a unified system over archive work across China. They should also give supervision and guidance in this regard. Archive administrative departments under various local people's governments at county level and above are in charge of archive work in their respective administrative areas. They should also give supervision and guidance over archive work carried out by organs, groups, enterprises, establishments, and other organizations in their respective administrative areas. Township, nationality township, and town people's governments should designate special personnel to maintain archives of their respective organs, and give supervision and guidance over archive work carried out by their subordinate units.
Article 7. Archive departments or archive work personnel of organs, groups, enterprises, establishments, and other organizations are to maintain archives of their respective units, and give supervision and guidance over archive work carried out by their subordinate organizations.
Article 8. Various archive halls at central and county level and above are cultural organizations where concerted efforts are made to maintain archives. They are in charge of receiving, collecting, sorting, and maintaining archives under their respective jurisdictions, and provide relevant services.
Article 9. Archive work personnel should be loyal in executing their duties, abide by discipline, and have professional knowledge. Units or individuals who have attained outstanding results in collecting, sorting, protecting, and providing relevant services of archives shall be commended and awarded by people's governments at various levels.
Chapter III. The Management of Archives
Article 10. Materials that should be filed as archives in accordance with state regulations must be regularly transferred, according to regulations, to archive departments or archive work personnel of various respective units so that the materials are under a unified management. No individual is allowed to keep them as his own. No one is allowed to file, without authorization, materials -- that are forbidden to be filed as archives in accordance with state regulations -- as archives.
Article 11. Organs, groups, enterprises, establishments, and other organizations must regularly transfer archives to archive halls in accordance with state regulations.
Article 12. Units including museums, libraries, and memorial halls whose cultural relics and book materials are also archives may keep such materials on their own according to legal and administrative regulations. On the use of archives, archive halls should coordinate and cooperate with the above units.
Article 13. Archive halls at various levels as well as archive units under organs, groups, enterprises, establishments, and other organizations should establish scientific management system to effectively use their archives, set up necessary facilities to ensure the safety of their archives, and use advanced technology to modernize archive management.
Article 14. The management and use of classified archives, changes of their classifications, and their declassification must be handled according to relevant provisions of state legal and administrative regulations on secrecy.
Article 15. State government archive administrative departments shall formulate principles on evaluating and keeping archives, set up standards whereby time limits for keeping archives are set up, and draw up procedures and provisions whereby archives can be destroyed. No archives may be destroyed without authorization.
Article 16. Collective or individual owners of archives that are worthy of preservation or that should be kept classified for the state or society should properly keep the archives. When the conditions for preserving the archives are poor or when there are other reasons that may seriously damage the archives or that may make them insecure arise, state government archive administrative departments are entitled to take measures including acting as surrogate keepers to ensure that the archives are wholesome and safe. If necessary, they may procure or requisition the archives. Owners of the archives listed under the preceding clause may deposit the archives with a state archive hall and let it keep them on their behalf, or they may sell them to the latter. Sale of archives to units or individuals other than a state archive hall should be approved in accordance with relevant regulations by an archive administrative department under people's government at county level and above. Sale of archives for profits is strictly prohibited. It is strictly prohibited to sell archives or to present archives as gifts to foreigners. Archive halls should commend and award cases where archives are donated to the state.
Article 17. Sale of state archives is prohibited. State government archive administrative departments shall formulate specific procedures and provisions governing transfer of relevant archives when state enterprises and establishments transfer their assets. Exchanges, transfer, and sale of archive duplicates shall be handled in accordance with state regulations.
Article 18. It is prohibited to privately transport without authorization to overseas state archives, the archives listed under Article 16 of this law, and duplicates of these archives.
Chapter IV. The Use and Publication of Archives
Article 19. Generally archives kept in state archive halls should be open to the public 30 years after they are termed as archives. Archives on economic, scientific, technological, and cultural activities may be open to the public less than 30 years after they are termed as archives. Archives on state security, major interests, and other issues that preclude the archives from being open to the public may remain restricted more than 30 years after they are termed as archives. State government archive administrative departments shall formulate specific time limits to keep these archives as restricted archives. The time limits shall be observed with the State Council's prior approval. Archive halls should regularly publish categories on archives that are open to the public so as to create conditions, to simplify procedures, and make it easy for the public to use the archives. With legitimate certifications, PRC citizens and organizations may use the archives in archive halls that are open to the public.
Article 21. Units and individuals who transfer, donate, and deposit archives at archive halls shall have priority in the use of such archives and may propose restrictions on the use of certain sections of the archives that are not suitable to be open to the public. The archive halls should safeguard their legitimate interests.
Article 22. Archive halls that are authorized by the state or relevant organs may publicize state archives. Without prior consent of an archive hall or relevant organ, no organization or individual is allowed to make such a publication. While collective or individual owners of archives are entitled to publicize their archives, they must abide by relevant state regulations so as not to hamper state security and interests or to encroach others' legitimate rights and interests.
Article 23. Archive halls at various levels should have research personnel; strengthen research and sorting capacities over archives; systematically organize, edit, and publish archive materials; and circulate them in various fields.
Chapter V. Legal Responsibilities
Article 24. Archive administrative departments under people's governments at county level and above and relevant administrative departments shall mete out disciplinary punishments according to laws against those supervisors and other persons directly in charge who have committed one of the following acts. The party who commits crime shall be investigated and be affixed with criminal responsibility according to laws:
(1) Those who damage or lose state archives.
(2) Those who supply, copy, publish, or destroy without authorization state archives.
(3) Those who alter or fabricate archives.
(4) Those who sell or transfer archives without authorization, thereby violating Articles 16 and 17 of this law.
(5) Those who sell archives for profits, and who sell archives or present archives as gifts to foreigners.
(6) Those who fail to transfer materials that should be filed as archives in accordance with state regulations, and who fail to transfer archives on schedule, thereby violating Articles 10 and 11 of this law.
(7) Those who, with the prior knowledge that the archives under their charge have been endangered, fail to take appropriate preventive measures and cause losses.
(8) Archivists who are derelict of their duty and cause losses.
Archive administrative departments under people's governments at county level and above shall issue warnings and may also impose fines against those who have committed violations under one of the items (1), (2), or (3) of the preceding clause. If losses have been incurred, they shall be ordered to pay compensation for the losses. Archive administrative departments under people's governments at county level and above shall issue warnings and may also impose fines against those enterprises, establishments, organizations and individuals who have committed violations under either items (4) or (5) of the preceding clause. If there are illicit incomes, such incomes shall be confiscated. They may also requisition the archives that have been sold or given away as gifts in accordance with relevant provisions of Article 16 of this law.
Article 25. The customs departments shall confiscate the archives and their duplicates that are forbidden to be transported to overseas and may also impose fines against those offenders. The archives and their duplicates that have been confiscated shall be transferred to archive administrative departments. The party who has committed crime shall be investigated and be affixed with criminal responsibility according to laws.
Chapter VI. Supplementary Provisions
Article 26. State government archive administrative departments shall formulate the procedures for the implementation of this law. They shall be implemented with the State Council's prior approval.
Article 27. This law is effective on 1 January 1998.