As mentioned in one of our earlier articles, on 12 November 2021 the Regulation on Unique Technical and Technology Requirements and Procedures for Storage and Protection of Archival and Documentary Materials in Electronic Form (Official Gazette of RS no. 107/2021) (“the Regulation”) was published, governing the so-called electronic archiving, i.e., unique technical-technological requirements and procedures that should be fulfilled by creators and holders of archival and documentary materials during their storage and protection.
Postponed implementation of the Regulation
Pursuant to the Regulation on amendments to the Regulation, which was published in Official Gazette of RS no. 94/2022 from 25 August 2022, the Regulation shall apply from 1 January 2024, instead of 1 September 2022 as initially stipulated.
Content of the Regulation
The Regulation stipulates that creators and holder of documentary materials in electronic form shall be obliged to perform electronic archiving, until delivery of archival materials to the competent archive, in accordance with the Regulation on Conditions for Preparation of Documents for Reliable Electronic Storage and Document Forms Suitable for Long-term Storage (Official Gazette of RS no. 86/2018).
Electronic archiving is done by a software – information system for reliable electronic storage, while creator and holder prepare a list of categories of archival and documentary materials with retention periods and submit it in electronic form to the competent public archive (to “eArhiv”, through “eUprava” portal). If the archive establishes an irregularity while checking this list, it shall order its correction and the creator/holder shall be obliged to act immediately upon it.
The Regulation also prescribes that individual obligations of creators and holders of documentary materials with regards to the electronic archiving, prior to delivery to the competent archive – inter alia – include: enacting of internal rules of conducting with regards to the preparation of materials for reliable electronic storage, applying of measures for protection of the aforementioned software, classification of materials in accordance with the list of categories (along with designation of the retention period thereof), recording of prescribed data, keeping records of activities undertaken in the process of preparation for electronic storage and archiving, keeping archive books in electronic form etc.
Additionally, having selected the materials to be permanently kept from a software solution, creators and holders of documentary materials shall select documentary materials with expired retention period for destruction, and create a request to the competent public archive in electronic form in that regard (to “eArhiv”, through “eUprava” portal). As for the selection of electronic material to be permanently kept, upon expiry of 30 years after its creation, creators and holders of such material shall create a request in electronic form in the software and submit it to the competent public archive (to “eArhiv”), based on which request the archive shall adopt an act on establishing the archive material for cultural good, according to the law.
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By Lara Maksimovic, Senior Associate, PR Legal