Ensuring citizens' right to access information through the amended Archives Law.

Adding new regulations to ensure people's right to access information, the amended Archives Law demonstrates a strong spirit of innovation in the implementation of human rights and the fundamental rights and obligations of citizens.

Bảo đảm quyền tiếp cận thông tin của người dân thông qua Luật Lưu trữ sửa đổi

The draft Law on Archives (amended) contains many provisions that help people access information more quickly and conveniently. (Illustrative image: Ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands receiving policies and guidelines through internet connection. Source: tapchicongsan.vn)

The mission of archives is to preserve and promote information from the past – the memory of the nation, while the people are the creators of history. Therefore, archival documents – historical information in the memory of the entire nation – are primarily intended to serve the legitimate needs of the people.

With this overarching spirit, over the years, relevant authorities have strived to build a modern Vietnamese archives system that meets the requirements of state management, modernizes the administration, and serves the people.

Modern archiving is human-centered.

Based on that, the draft Law on Archives (amended) was developed to institutionalize the Party's policy that the legal system must promote innovation, digital transformation, and the development of products and services in the field of archives to serve the people and contribute effectively to the cause of national construction and defense, and international integration.

The draft Law on Archives (amended) is built on the principle of inheriting, developing, and perfecting the provisions of the 2011 Law on Archives that are still relevant to practice; at the same time, amending and supplementing unclear, inadequate, or inconsistent provisions in accordance with the principles of constitutionality, legality, and consistency within the system of legal normative documents.

In the same spirit, the Draft Law has set forth six basic archival principles, in which ensuring the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam , the centralized and unified management of the State are important factors, and the participation of the community, society, and the public is a prerequisite. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure the effective utilization of archival documents for the benefit of the nation, the interests of the Vietnamese people, and the legitimate rights and interests of agencies, organizations, and individuals; to ensure the right of access to information for agencies, organizations, and individuals as stipulated in the Constitution and laws; and to ensure openness, transparency, and proper authority as prescribed by Vietnamese law, in accordance with international archival standards and practices…

Based on the policies already outlined, all 8 chapters and 65 articles of the draft Law are on the right track, demonstrating specific regulations aimed at building a service-oriented archiving system that ensures both maximum convenience for citizens and effective state management.

The task of archives is not merely to preserve and protect the nation's memory, but more importantly, to facilitate and bridge the gap between the past and the present, allowing generations of people from different historical periods to connect with each other and with their roots. Besides acknowledging the special value of archival documents in the cause of national construction and development, a new chapter (compared to the 2011 Archives Law) on "Archival documents of special value and promoting the value of archival documents" has been proposed by the drafting agency and received high consensus from National Assembly delegates.

In this new section, specific requirements regarding the methods for promoting the value of archival materials, particularly the publication of archival documents and the public disclosure of catalogs of archival records and documents, have been stipulated. The regulation encouraging educational institutions within the national education system to integrate the promotion of archival materials into their educational and training activities is one of the new points, expanding the scope of archival services.

In addition to serving the information needs of the people, Chapter V "Private Archives" of the draft Law on Archives (amended) also aims to serve other needs of the people in preserving and promoting the value of documents owned by individuals, ensuring respect for the rights and interests of individuals/communities that own these documents.

It can be said that, with the addition of many new regulations mentioned above, the draft Law on Archives (amended) has demonstrated a strong spirit of innovation in ensuring the implementation of human rights and the basic rights and obligations of citizens.

The draft Law on Archives (amended) is being developed to institutionalize the Party's policy that the legal system must promote innovation, digital transformation, and the development of products and services in the field of archives to serve the public. (Source: terasoft)

Expanding the scope and increasing the accessibility of the right to access information.

The consistent policy of the Vietnamese Party and State is to encourage and create all favorable conditions for people to receive and access information in order to serve the goals of economic, cultural, and social development, support administrative reform, improve the quality of life, and exercise the basic freedoms of the people.

By introducing a new understanding that "a document is information attached to a carrier whose content and form remain unchanged when the carrier is changed," the draft Law on Archives (amended) emphasizes the meaning of "information" in archival documents. From this, regulations on the management of archival documents and databases, archival practices, and the promotion of the value of archival documents all share one important goal: ensuring that information is preserved and used for the long term.

To ensure citizens' full access to information from archival documents, one of the prohibited acts stipulated in the draft Law is obstructing citizens' lawful right to use archival documents.

At the same time, the draft Law also specifies regulations on access to archival documents: citizens' access to information in archival documents at current archives shall comply with the provisions of the law on access to information; agencies, organizations, and individuals may access information in archival documents at historical archives, and may access information under certain conditions in some cases.

In parallel, the draft Law on Archives (amended) also stipulates the rights and obligations of agencies, organizations, and individuals in accessing and using archival information and documents, including: having access to accurate, complete, timely, and legally compliant archival information and documents; using archival information and documents to serve work, scientific and historical research, and other legitimate needs; and filing complaints and denunciations in accordance with the law on complaints and denunciations.

The new and progressive aspects of the draft Law on Archives (amended) lie in expanding the scope of accessible information. This includes regulations on the responsibilities of agencies, organizations, and historical archives in declassifying documents; filling information gaps in several important areas of social management; and adding many regulations on new types of documents – digital archival documents, etc.

Furthermore, the draft Law on Archives (amended) also includes many provisions to help people access information more quickly and conveniently by reducing the deadline for submitting documents to historical archives; stipulating the responsibility to publicly disclose the list of archival records and documents under management authority on electronic portals and websites; digitizing archival documents, digital archives, building and standardizing archival document databases; and backup archiving, etc.

Notably, the draft Law on Archives (amended) addresses the relationship between the preservation of information and archival documents and their use and promotion in social life. Promoting participation is understood in two ways: archival documents participating in and serving community life, and the entire community participating in archival work.

With a consistent focus on serving the people, during the drafting process, the lead agency reviewed the consistency of the legal system, especially regarding issues such as digital transformation, digital archiving, digital government, digital economy, and digital society, comparing it with the Law on Information Technology, the Law on Cybersecurity, the Law on Access to Information, and the Law on Protection of State Secrets… At the same time, the draft was also carefully reviewed and compared with international treaties and agreements to which Vietnam is a signatory, ensuring consistency and avoiding conflicts.

It can be affirmed that the draft Law on Archives (amended) fully reflects the objectives, viewpoints, principles, and adheres closely to the major policies passed by the National Assembly, ensuring citizens' right to access information as stipulated in the Constitution, while simultaneously implementing the orientation of promoting the socialization of archival activities and building an archival society.

It is expected that after being passed and taking effect by the 15th National Assembly, 7th session, the implementation of specific regulations in the amended Archives Law regarding ensuring people's right to access information will contribute to many benefits in the socio-economic development of the country, while strengthening people's trust in the leadership and management of the Party and the State.

At its 6th session (October 2023), the National Assembly discussed and provided feedback on the draft Law on Archives (amended). In fulfilling the tasks assigned by the National Assembly, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, and the Government, the Ministry of Interior has closely coordinated with the National Assembly's Law Committee to fully incorporate the feedback from National Assembly deputies and relevant agencies and organizations, and to revise and finalize the draft Law on Archives (amended).

The draft Law, after being revised and amended, consists of 8 chapters with 65 articles. The content of the draft Law closely adheres to the major policies approved by the National Assembly in the proposed Law, aligns with the objectives and viewpoints set forth when developing the Law project, and promptly institutionalizes the Party's policy on perfecting the legal system to promote innovation, digital transformation, and the development of new products and services. It inherits the provisions of the 2011 Archives Law that are still relevant, adds new provisions, contributes to better ensuring citizens' right to access information as stipulated in the Constitution, and simultaneously implements the orientation of promoting the socialization of archival activities and building an archival society.

Modern archiving is human-centered.

Expanding the scope and increasing the accessibility of the right to access information.

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