(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 VLegal   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 VISupplementary   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.