On the 24th of January, 2020, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia adopted the Law on Archival Material and Archival Activities (“Official Gazette of RS”, no. 6/2020), whose official implementation started in February 2021.
This law prescribes the obligations of all creators and holders of archival material and documentary material.
A creator of archival material and documentary material is considered any legal or natural entity whose activities lead to the creation of archival material (documentary material which is permanently kept and which is created through the work and activity of state authorities and organizations, territorial authority autonomies and local self-governments, institutions, public companies, holders of public authority, companies, entrepreneurs, persons performing registered activities, religious communities, as well as other legal and natural entities, and that are of permanent significance for culture, art, science, education and other social areas, regardless of when and where they were created and whether they are located in institutions for the protection of cultural property or outside of them, and regardless of the format and recording medium which they are retained on) and documentary material (documents or records created or received through activity and work of entities, in their original or reproduced document form, regardless of the recording form and format, as well as the prescribed record thereof).
Therefore, in interpretation of these legal provisions, we can conclude that all legal entities need to adjust their business operations to the Law on Archival Material and Archival Activities.
The obligations of legal entities, as creators of archival material and documentary material, are reflected in the following:
1) adoption of a general act on the manner of recording, classification, archiving and storage of archival material and documentary material;
2) determination of a list of categories of archival material and documentary material with retention periods (the competent public archive approves the list of categories of archival materials and documentary materials with retention periods);
3) adoption of a general act on the manner of recording, protection, and use of electronic documents.
The creator and holder of archival material and documentary material is obligated to appoint a responsible expert for the protection of archival material and documentary material and handling archival material and documentary material.
In addition, the creator and holder of archival material and documentary material is obligated to provide adequate space and equipment for storage and protection of archival material and documentary material; submit the archival material to the competent archive under the conditions and respecting the deadlines prescribed by the law, record, designate, classify, date and archive archival material and documentary material, secure a permanent retention of archival material in electronic form, its maintenance, migration, i.e., transfer to new mediums in prescribed formats until the submission of archival material in electronic format to the competent public archive; keep the archive book on a prescribed form, enable the responsible person of the public archive professional monitoring over recording, classifying, choosing, archiving, retaining, professional maintenance and protection of the archive material, i.e., over its selection from the documentary material and other obligations prescribed by Article 9 Paragraph 1 of the Law on Archival Material and Archival Activities (“Official Gazette of RS, no. 6/2020).
Based on the determined list of categories, the creator and holder of the archive material and documentary material is obligated to keep a record of the entire archival material and documentary material created through the work of the creator in the form of an archive book. Recording of the archival material and documentary material in the archive book is performed in chronological order, by year and designations of classification, by category name of documentary material according to the current list of categories of archival material and documentary material with retention deadlines.
According to the Rulebook on the Form of the Archive Book (“Official Gazette of RS” no. 34/2022) the archival book can be kept in paper or electronic format.
The transcript of the archival book is submitted no later than the 30th of April of the current year, for documentary material created in the previous year, with the submission of the entire archival book transcript required if the archival book is submitted for the first time from its establishment.
All creators and holders of the archival material and documentary material are obligated to submit to the competent archive transcripts of the archival books in the prescribed time limit. The breach of this obligation carries the following penalties:
- 50.000 to 2.000.000 Dinars for legal entities,
- 5.000 to 150.000 Dinars for the responsible person of legal entity.
– 50.000 do 2.000.000 dinara za pravno lice,
– 5.000 do 150.000 dinara za odgovorno lice u pravnom licu.
