Implementing Measures for the Archival Law of the People's Republic of China (Revised in 2017)

Order of the State Council of the People's Republic of China No.676

March 1, 2017

(Adopted by the State Council on May 5, 1999; promulgated by the State Archives Bureau on June 7, 1999; and revised in accordance with the Decision of the State Council on Revising and Repealing Certain Administrative Regulations on March 1, 2017)

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1 The Implementing Measures for the Archival Law of the People's Republic of China (Amended in 1999) (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures") are hereby formulated in accordance with provisions of the Archival Law of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the "Archival Law").

Article 2 In terms of the archives whose preservation is of value to the State and society as mentioned in Article 2 of the Archival Law, if they are State-owned, their specific scope shall be determined by the State Archives Bureau in concert with the relevant departments of the State; and if they are collectively owned or individually owned but not owned by the State, their specific scope shall be determined by archival administrations of the people's governments of all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government after acquisition of approval from the State Archives Bureau.

Article 3 Archives permanently stored in the State archival repositories at all levels are subject to a three-level administration, and the specific criteria and administrative measures for the classification shall be formulated by the State Archives Bureau.

Article 4 All departments under the State Council after approved by the State Archives Bureau, and all departments of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government after approved by the archival administrations of people's governments at corresponding levels, may formulate specific systems and measures for the administration of specialized archives within their respective scopes of authority.

Article 5 All people's governments at or above the county level shall strengthen their leadership in archival work, incorporate the development of archival undertaking into the program of the national economic and social development of their own, establish and improve the archival institutions, identify the size of necessary personnel force, and co-ordinate and arrange funds needed for the development of archival undertaking.
The State organs, groups, enterprises and public institutions, and other organizations shall strengthen their leadership in their respective archival work to ensure the archival work is carried out in accordance with the law.

Article 6 If any of the following facts exists, rewards shall be offered by the people's governments, archival administrations or the units concerned:
1. the performance in archives collection, compilation and provision for utilization is outstanding;
2. the performance in archives protection and modern management is outstanding;
3. the contribution to studies of archives is significant;
4. donation of important or valuable archives to the country; or
5. the performance in fight against acts in violation of archival laws and regulations is outstanding.

Chapter II Archival Institutions and Their Duties

Article 7 The State Archives Bureau shall perform the following duties in accordance with provisions of Paragraph 1 of Article 6 of the Archival Law:
1. study and develop archival work rules and specific guidelines and policies in accordance with the relevant laws, administrative regulations and related guidelines and policies of the State;
2. organize and coordinate the development of the national archival undertaking, formulate a comprehensive plan and special plan for the development of archival undertaking, and organize the implementation of such plans;
3. supervise and inspect the implementation of the relevant laws, regulations and related guidelines and policies of the State, and investigate and punish unlawful archival acts in accordance with the law;
4. supervise and guide the archival work respectively carried out by various departments of the Central Committee of Communist Party of China and the State, enterprises and public institutions directly under the State Council and the national social organizations not included in the registration scope according to the relevant provisions of the State, and by the State archival repositories at central level, as well as by archival administrations of people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government;
5. organize and guide the study on archival theory and technology, the publicity and education work related to archives, and the training of archivists; and
6. organize and carry out international exchange activities related to the archival work.

Article 8 The archival administrations of local people's governments at or above the county level shall perform the following duties in accordance with provisions of Paragraph 2 of Article 6 of the Archival Law:
1. implement the relevant laws, regulations and related guidelines and policies of the State;
2. formulate and organize the implementation of archival undertaking development plan and archival work rules and regulations for their own administrative areas;
3. supervise and guide the archival work of their own administrative areas, and investigate and punish unlawful archival acts in accordance with the law; and
4. organize and guide the study on archival theory and technology, the publicity and education work related to archives, and the training of archivists.

Article 9 The archival institutions of State organs, groups, enterprises and public institutions, and other organizations shall perform the following duties in accordance with provisions of Article 7 of the Archival Law.
1. implement the relevant laws, regulations and related guidelines and policies of the State, and establish and improve the archival rules and regulations of their own;
2. guide the formation, accumulation and archiving of files and documents of their own;
3. manage archives of their own on a uniform basis and transfer those archives to the relevant archival repositories in accordance with the provisions; and
4. supervise and guide the archival work of the institutions thereunder.

Article 10 The State archival repositories at the central and all local levels, as cultural institutions for the centralized preservation and administration of archives, and shall undertake the following tasks in accordance with provisions of Article 8 of the Archival Law:
1. collect and receive archives whose preservation is within their respective scope of responsibility and is of value to the State and society;
2. arrange and keep archives filed in strict accordance with the provisions; and
3. develop archival resources by adopting various forms and provide services for the society for the utilization of the same.
According to the relevant State provisions, all types of archival repositories established upon approval may undertake the tasks as provided in the preceding paragraph if necessary.

Article 11 The principles and layout programs for establishment of national archival repositories shall subject to the formulation of the State Archives Bureau and the approval of the State Council.

Chapter III Administration of Archives

Article 12 According to provisions of the State Archives Bureau on archiving of documentary materials, all materials of a unit that shall be filed and kept as archives shall be collected by the documentary or business division of the unit for sorting out and filing, and regularly handed over to the archival division or archivists of the unit for centralized administration. Nobody may keep such materials as his or her personal property or refuse to archive such materials.

Article 13 State organs, groups, enterprises and public institutions, and other organizations shall, in accordance with State provisions on transfer of archives, regularly hand over the archives to the State archival repositories concerned.
For archives falling into the acceptance scope of State archival repositories at the central and provincial levels and of cities divided into districts, they shall be handed over to the relevant State archival repositories after 20 years of filing by the archival units concerned; for archives falling into the acceptance scope of State archival repositories at the county level, they shall be handed over to the relevant State archival repositories at the county level after ten years of filing by the archival units concerned.
For archives that have been checked and agreed by archival administrations at corresponding levels, are highly specialized or need to be kept confidential, the duration for their transfer to the relevant archival repositories can be extended; for archives of units that have been revoked or archives that may be unsafe or seriously damaged due to poor storage conditions, they can be transferred to the relevant archival repositories in advance.

Article 14 For cultural relics and books that are concurrently archives, the archival repositories concerned shall exchange copies, duplicates or catalogues, co-organize the exhibitions, and co-edit and publish the relevant historical materials or make studies thereon with the museums, libraries, memorial halls and other units concerned.

Article 15 The State archival repositories at all levels shall take the following administrative measures for the archives kept:
1. establish a scientific administration system, and gradually achieve normalized and standard keeping;
2. offer specialized warehouse available for safe keeping of archives and equip the warehouse with anti-theft, anti-fire, anti-stains, anti-pest and other necessary facilities;
3. take effective measures to protect and manage the archives based on different levels of archives; and
4. provide technical equipment needed to adapt to modern management of files, if necessary and possible.
The archives of State organs, groups, enterprises and public institutions, and other organizations, if necessary, shall be kept by reference to the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

Article 16 The changes in security classification of and the declassification of archives as provided in Article 14 of the Archival Law shall be subject to provisions of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Protecting the State Secrets and its implementing measures.

Article 17 No organization or individual can sell any archive that is owned by the State.
Where the State-owned enterprises and public institutions need to transfer the relevant archives due to asset transfer, the relevant provisions of the State shall be followed.
Archival repositories of all types and at all levels, as well as State organs, groups, enterprises and public institutions, and other organizations, for the purposes of collecting and exchanging for archives drifted out of China, or making international cultural exchange and adapting to the needs of economic construction, scientific research and promotion of scientific and technological achievements, may donate and sell copies of archives to or exchange them with the units or individuals at home or abroad upon ex officio examination and approval by the State Archives Bureau or the archival administrations of people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government.

Article 18 The first-class archives kept in the State archival repositories at all levels are forbidden to exit China.
The second-class archives kept in the State archival repositories at all levels, if in need of exit, must be subject to examination and approval by the State Archives Bureau. Third-class archives kept in the State archival repositories at all levels, the State-owned archives other than those of the first to third classes as kept in the State archival repositories at all levels, and the collectively-owned or individually-owned archives or corresponding copies and other archives or corresponding copies that are not owned by the State and whose preservation is of value to the State and society or which should be kept confidential, if brought, transported or mailed abroad by the State archival repositories at all levels and State organs, groups, enterprises and public institutions, other organizations and individuals, shall be examined and approved by archival administrations of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government and can exit after checked by the Customs with the relevant approvals.

Chapter IV Use and Release of Archives

Article 19 The archives kept by State archival repositories at all levels should be released to the society by stages and by batches in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Archival Law, with the archive catalogue simultaneously disclosed to the public. The archives shall be opened to the society as of:
1. the implementation date of the Measures in case of archives marked with dates before the establishment of the People's Republic of China (including the archives of the Qing Dynasty or before, archives of the period of the Republic of China and the revolutionary historical archives);
2. the date of 30 years from the formation of archives filed after the establishment of the People's Republic of China; or
3. any time in case of the economic, scientific, technological, cultural and other types of archives.
Archives listed in the preceding paragraph, if related to national defense, foreign affairs, public security, national security and other significant national benefits or assumed to be inappropriate to be assessable by archival repositories upon the expiration of 30 years from the date of their formation, can be opened to the public for a longer time after approved by the archival administrations at the next higher level.

Article 20 Originals of archives provided by archival repositories of all types and at all levels for social use should gradually be replaced by their miniature versions. The miniature versions of archives and other forms of copies of archives, if containing the signatures or stamp marks of legal representatives of archival repositories concerned, shall have the same effect as the originals.

Article 21 For the purpose of the Archival Law, the use of archives refers to the reading, copy and excerpt of archives.
A citizen or organization of the People's Republic of China, if holding a letter of recommendation or work permit, identity card and other legal proof, can use the archives that have been opened to the public.
Any foreigner or foreign organization, if needing to use the archives that have been opened to the public in China, shall obtain the introduction letters of the relevant competent Chinese authorities and the approval of the archival repositories keeping such archives.
The State organs, groups, enterprises and public institutions, and other organizations as well as Chinese citizens, if in need of using the archives kept in but not opened to the public by archival repositories, shall obtain approval from the archival repositories keeping such archives, and if necessary, shall also get the consent of the relevant archival administrations after examination.
Where other State organs, groups, enterprises and public institutions, and other organizations as well as Chinese citizens need to use the archives that are kept by archival institutions of the State organs, groups, enterprises and public institutions, and other organizations but have not been transferred to archival repositories, the consent shall be obtained from the units keeping the said archives.
Archival repositories of all types and at all levels should create favorable conditions for the social use of archives. Provision of archives for social use can be charged in accordance with the provisions. Relevant charging standards shall be set by the State Archives Bureau in concert with the price management department under the State Council.

Article 22 The release of archives as mentioned in Article 22 of the Archival Law shall refer to all or part of the original contents of, or special contents as recorded in, archives firstly released to the social public through the following ways:
1. release through newspapers, journals, books, audio-visual, electronic and other publications;
2. broadcast or display through radio and television;
3. spread through public computer network;
4. announcement and display in public places;
5. publish of historical materials of archives, text or excerpts of a compilation of archives;
6. public sale, distribution or posting of archive copies; and
7. exhibition or publicly display of archives or their copies.

Article 23 Archives announced to be owned by the State shall be handled in accordance with the following provisions:
1. archives kept in archival repositories shall be released by the archival repositories concerned; and if necessary, shall be released after acquisition of the consent of units forming the archives or the approval of the competent authorities at higher level thereof;
2. archives respectively kept in archival institutions of units concerned shall be released by such units; and if necessary, shall be released upon approval by the competent authorities at higher level thereof; and
3. units and individuals using the State-owned archives have no right to release the archives without consent of the archival repositories or units keeping such archives or authorization or approval of the competent authorities mentioned in the preceding two items.
For collectively-owned or individually-owned archives and other archives which are not owned by the State and whose preservation is of value to the State and society or which should be kept confidential, their owners, when releasing them to the public, shall observe the relevant State provisions on confidentiality and shall not harm the interests of the State, society, communities and other citizens.

Article 24 The State archival repositories at all levels shall obtain consent of the owners of achieves concerned before using and releasing the archives.

Article 25 The use and release of archives shall not violate the provisions of State laws on protection of intellectual property rights.

Chapter V Penalty Provisions

Article 26 If any of the following acts is committed, the archival administration of the people's government at or above the county level shall order the unit concerned to make corrections within a time limit; and shall impose disciplinary sanctions on persons directly in charge or other persons directly liable in serious case:
1. taking the documents and materials formed in the process of handling official affairs as one's own property and refusing to turn in them to the archival institutions and archivists for filing;
2. refusing to transfer archives to the State archival repositories in accordance with provisions of the State;
3. arbitrarily expanding or narrowing the acceptance scope of archives in a way violating provisions of the State;
4. failing to offer access to archives to the public in accordance with provisions of the State;
5. causing losses to archives kept as a result of failure of taking measures despite of the full awareness of danger exposed to the archives; and
6. causing losses to archives as a result of neglect of duty on the part of archivists or persons with leadership in the archival work.

Article 27 The amount of fine as provided in Paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 24 of the Archival Law is specifically determined according to the value and quantity of the relevant archives and limited within the range from not less than CNY10,000 to not more than CNY100,000 for units and from not less than CNY500 to not more than CNY5,000 for individuals.

Article 28 Where losses are caused to archives due to violation of the Archival Law and the Measures, the archival administrations of people's governments above the county level and the relevant competent authorities shall order compensation according to the value of such archives suffering the losses.

Chapter VI Supplementary Provisions

Article 29 Archival work of the People's Liberation Army is administrated in accordance with the Archival Law and the principles determined herein.

Article 30 The Measures shall come into force as of the date of promulgation.