LAW ON THE NATIONAL ARCHIVAL FONDS
Promulgated by State Gazette, issue 57 dated 13 July 2007
Chapter I
General principles
Art. 1. This law shall arrange the formation, preservation and use of the National Archival Fonds of the Republic of Bulgaria; and the organization, the management and the activity of the Archives.
Art. 2. The National Archival Fonds shall be created to provide with documental information the government of the state, the development of the sciences and of the culture and the protection of the rights and legal interests of the citizens.
Art. 3. The National Archival Fonds shall be a permanently accretive totality of valuable records covering the material and spiritual life of the society.
Art. 4. (1) The National Archival Fonds shall be completed by:
1. records, identified to be permanently kept, created by the activity of the public and municipal institutions and other juridical and physical persons, independently on the time, the carrier and the way of creation, the place of preservation and the form of property;
2. records or copies of records about the history of Bulgaria, received from foreign Archives or foreign juridical and/or physical persons;
(2) records under § 1 shall enter the Register of the National Archival Fonds.
Art. 5. The Archives shall be organizations or structural branches of organizations which fulfill selection, acquisition, processing and preservation of records and provide them for public use.
Art. 6. (1) Archives, which keep records of the National Archival Fonds shall be:
1. state archives;
2. archives and archival collections of cultural and other public institutions;
3. archival collections of state and municipal museums and libraries;
4. archival collections of library clubs and religious institutions;
5. private archives.
(2) records from the Archives under paragraph 1, point 1 shall be kept observing the principle of provenance and provided unity and integrity of the archival fonds.
Art. 7. (1) The State shall take care of the preservation of the National Archival Fonds’ records via:
1. registering and accounting their presence;
2. ensuring their storage in modernly equipped premises; restoration and conservation labs and security copying;
3. ensuring qualified staff to work with;
4. budgetary funding;
(2) The State shall take care of the preservation of records which were entered the Register of the National Archival Fonds and are property of physical persons;
(3) The State shall take care of the preservation of the records which were entered in the Register of the National Archival Fonds and are outside the territory of the country, on the territory of another country, respecting its internal legislation, as well as the entered into force international agreements Bulgaria is party of.
Art. 8. (1) The records in the Archives under Art. 6, § 1 shall be state property, respectively municipal property and cannot be subject of dealing with.
(2) In the case of deals with records - private property, written in the Register of the National Archival Fonds, their owners shall notify the Archives State Agency within one month before the deal about the forthcoming change of property. The state shall have the right first to offer through the Archives State Agency’s chairperson the acquisition of these records at equal other conditions within one month after the notifying.
(3) The records in the Archives under § 1 and 2 cannot be exported outside the country without the authorization of the chairperson of Archives State Agency.
(4) The terms and the order of temporary export of records under § 1 and 2 shall be established by the Regulations under Art. 91.
Art. 9. (1) The records of the National Archival Fonds in the Archives under Art. 6 § 1 shall be kept, processed and used according to the provisions of this law.
(2) The terms and the order of preservation, storage, access and use of the valuable electronic records in the State Archives shall be established by Regulations adopted by the Council of Ministers on a motion of the Minister of State Administration and Administrative Reform in concordance with the chairperson of Archives State Agency.
Art. 10. The Archives shall provide for the users public access to the records they keep by creating and maintaining in regard of this a system of finding aids.
Chapter two
Management of the National Archival Fonds
Section I Archives State Agency
Art. 11. (1) The Governmental policy in the field of selection, acquisition, registering, processing, preservation, storage and use of the records of the National Archival Fonds, as well as in the field of development and improvement of the archival deed shall be carried out by the Archives State Agency.
(2) The Archives State Agency shall supervise the preservation of the records in the registry offices of the state and municipal institutions and shall fulfill scientific and methodical guidance and control over the organization of the work with the records, their preservation and use in the establishments’ Archives.
(3) The orders and the instructions of the Archives State Agency’s bodies concerning the records of the National Archival Fonds shall be obligatory for all organisations.
(4) Archives State Agency shall create and maintain the Register of the National Archival Fonds in electronic form and shall maintain the information system of the Archives.
(5) Archives State Agency shall fulfill publishing, shall cooperate with foreign akin establishments, institutions and international organizations and shall be member of the International Council on Archives.
Art. 12. (1) Archives State Agency shall be created at the Council of Ministers and shall be a juridical person on budgetary funding which head office shall be settled in Sofia.
(2) Archives State Agency shall be led and represented by Chairperson who shall be appointed by decision of the Council of Ministers.
(3) When fulfilling his duties the chairperson of the Archives State Agency shall be helped by vice chairpersons.
Art. 13. The chairperson of the Archives State Agency shall:
1. carry out the general governance, coordination and control over the activity on acquisition, accounting and preservation of the records under Art. 6 § 1 independently on their place of storage and shall organize the work with them;
2. issue methodical guidelines and instructions and shall fulfill the implementation of the archival standards within his/her competences;
3. define the criteria of appraisal the value of records including the electronic ones and shall identify the records for permanent storage;
4. approve the proposed periods of temporary storage for the records in the state and municipal institutions until their transfer to the State Archives according to the filing plan and the lists of records’ types other than these stipulated by law;
5. supervise the elaboration of filing plans and lists of records with periods of storage in the state and municipal institutions;
6. keep account of the records of the National Archival Fonds, as well as a special report on the vital valuable and unique records and the records in risk;
7. organize the activity on records’ preservation, the control over the fonds’ availability, the restoration, conservation and creation of security fonds, as well as of fonds of digitized copies;
8. draw up acts and shall issue penal sanctions in the cases foreseen by the law and shall delegate other officials of the Archives State Agency to do this;
9. guarantee the elaboration of finding aids on the composition and the contents of the National Archival Fonds;
10. establish the rules of use for the records kept in the Archives and shall provide public access to them;
11. represent the State when acquiring records or their copies through legal deals and shall delegate the State Archives’ directors to accomplish such deals;
12. organize and shall fulfill scientific and research activities on document science, archival science and other akin sciences;
13. conclude international agreements with foreign partners and shall carry out the international cooperation in the field of archival deed;
14. determine the composition, the tasks and the rules of work of the Central Expert Checkup Committee, the Central Expert Assessment Committee and the appropriate expert committees in the State Archives;
15. create other committees and working groups when necessary to resolve specific problems of the theory and practice of the archival deed;
16. fulfill other mandates assigned by law or by Council of Ministers’ act;
17. coordinate the activities of the State Archives fulfilled under this law.
Art. 14. The structure of Archives State Agency shall be established in organization statute adopted by the Council of Ministers.
Art. 15. (1) At the Archives State Agency shall be created:
1. Central Expert Checkup Committee and
2. Central Expert Assessment Committee.
(2) The Committee under § 1 p. 1 shall be an auxiliary body to the chairperson of Archives State Agency for the settlement of principle issues of the theory and practice of the value’s appraisal and the acquisition of archival records.
(3) The Committee under § 1 p. 2 is an auxiliary body to the chairperson of Archives State Agency for the sake of assessment the value of records proposed to the Archives by physical and juridical persons against recompense and for the assessment of its measure.
Art. 16. Archives State Agency shall organize and carry out vocational training, seminars, conferences and other forms of training to improve permanently the qualification of its staff.
Art. 17. Archives State Agency shall organize and carry out courses, seminars, conferences and other forms of training for people working in the establishments’ archives and for the members of the Expert Committees in the state and municipal institutions and shall deliver them certificates.
Section II Central and Territorial State Archives
Art. 18. The structure of Archives State Agency shall comprise central and territorial State Archives with status of directorates.
Art. 19. The Central State Archives shall be:
1. The Central State Archives which head office shall be in Sofia and
2. The State Military Historical Archives which head office shall be in Veliko Turnovo.
Art. 20. The Territorial State Archives shall be:
1. Sofia State Archives with territorial coverage Sofia-city and the region of Sofia;
2. territorial State Archives with territorial coverage the relevant regions;
Art. 21. Object of the activity of the Central State Archives shall be the identified for permanent preservation records of the central structures of the State bodies and other state and municipal institutions, the documentary heritage of figures with national significance for the period after 1878, as well as records on the history of Bulgaria, kept by foreign Archives and other institutions.
Art. 22. Object of the activity of the State Military Historical Archives shall be the identified for permanent preservation records of the Ministry of Defense, Bulgarian Army and the structures subordinated to the Minister of Defense, as well as the documentary heritage of important figures connected to them.
Art. 23. Object of the activity of Sofia State Archives shall be the identified for permanent preservation records of Sofia Municipality and the municipalities/ communities included in the region of Sofia, of the territorial structures of state bodies and other state and municipal institutions located on the territory of Sofia-city and the region of Sofia, of bodies and organizations with local significance, as well as the documentary heritage of important figures for the history of Sofia-city and the region of Sofia.
Art. 24. Object of the activity of the territorial State Archives shall be the identified for permanent preservation records of the relevant regional administration and the municipalities on the territory of the respective regions and municipalities, of bodies and organizations with local significance, as well as the documentary heritage of important figures with local significance.
Art. 25. The Archives under Art. 21 – 24 shall fulfill:
1. selection, acquisition and processing of records;
2. scientific and methodical guidance and supervision upon the organization of the work with records, their preservation and use in the establishments’ archives of the state and municipal institutions and the preservation of the records in the registration offices;
3. expert help during the elaboration of filing plans and branches’ lists of the records with periods of storage in the state and municipal institutions;
4. registering, recordkeeping account and maintaining the respective part of the Register of the National Archival Fonds;
5. creation of finding aids to the stored records and maintaining the respective part of the automated information system of the Archives;
6. ensuring access to and providing with the records for use;
7. preservation, restoration, conservation and creation of security fonds of the records.
Art. 26. (1) The State Archives shall be led by directors which shall be helped by Expert Checkup Commissions and Expert Assessment
(2) The Expert Checkup Committees shall examine and submit for approval the conclusions of the permanently acting Expert Committees of the organizations upon the appraisal concerning the value of the records.
(3) The Expert Assessment Committees shall identify the value of records proposed to the Archives by physical or juridical persons against recompense as well as its amount.
Art. 27. (1) The preventive, current and consequent control on the implementation of the obligations under this law shall be accomplished by the directors of the central and the territorial State Archives and by the officials, entitled by the agency’s chairperson.
(2) The persons under § 1 shall have the right to:
1. access the records including on electronic carrier which shall be kept in the state and municipal institutions;
2. know the reports of the internal auditors, inspectorates, Chamber of Accounts and other supervisory bodies, which shall be stored in the supervised state or municipal institution in the part relative to the organization and the preservation of the records.
(3) In the discharge of their duties the persons under § 1 shall have to:
1. produce their identity card;
2. render objectively and exactly the results of the accomplished supervising activity on the basis of the checked up by them ex officio facts and circumstances and to acknowledge with them the heads of the supervised organization;
3. not to divulge facts and circumstances they knew during or due to the fulfillment of their duties unless in the cases foreseen by law.
(4) The officials of Archives State Agency shall be obliged to observe the Code of Behavior of the Officials in the State Administration and the approved by the agency’s chairperson Ethic Standards of Behavior of the Officials of the State Archives.
(5) For failure in duty under § 3 & 4 the officials shall bear the responsibility according to the Law on the State Servant and the Code of Labor.
Section III Funding
Art. 28. (1) The chairperson of Archives State Agency shall be subsidiary manager of budgetary credits at the Council of Ministers.
(2) In the budget of Archives State Agency shall enter revenues from:
1. state charges for the acceptance of requests after a pattern, exemplifications of archival records and delivery of certificates; the amounts of the state charges shall be established by rates approved by the Council of Ministers;
2. other services evolving from the activity of Archives State Agency, according to prices, established by act of the Council of Ministers;
3. print publishing of the agency;
4. revenues from the use of the real estate – state property, including from holiday houses.
5. charges and expenses under Art. 64, § 5 of the Civil Procedure Code;
6. target means under European, international and other projects and programs (individual and joint);
7. donations from physical and juridical persons;
8. imposed fines and property sanctions under this law;
9. other sources and activities allowed by law.
Art. 29. (1) The chairperson of Archives State Agency shall determine further material stimulation to the officials of the agency. The order and the terms to determine the individual amount of the further material stimulation shall be specified by internal rules, approved by the chairperson of the agency.
(2) The further material stimulation for the chairperson of Archives State Agency shall be set by the respective deputy prime minister.
(3) The funds under § 1 shall be fixed to 25 % of the annual amount of the resources for salaries from the budget of Archives State Agency for the appropriate year and shall enter the Law on the State Budget for the same year.
Section IV National Archival Council
Art. 30. To the chairperson of Archives State Agency a National Archival Council shall be created to coordinate the fulfillment of the state policy on development and improvement of the archival deed and the measures to preserve the National Archival Fonds.
Art. 31. The National Archival Council shall be an inter-institutional consultative body which shall:
1. discus and give opinions on drafts of strategies, programs and normative acts relative to the preservation of the National Archival Fonds and to the development and improvement of the archival deed in the country and shall submit proposals to the Council of Ministers for their acceptance;
2. coordinate the interaction between the establishments’ archives and the State Archives, as well as between the Archives State Agency and the Archives outside its structure;
3. promote the filling in and the systematical running of the Register of the National Archival Fonds;
4. bring into line the requirements for acquisition, accounting and storage of the archival records in an Archives and for their conservation and restoration and for providing for use;
5. suggest measures for the preservation of the particularly valuable and unique records of the National Archival Fonds and the National heritage in risk by providing for modern equipment and adequate funding.
Art. 32. (1) The National Archival Council shall be composed of 11 members and shall include representatives of the Archives under Art. 6, § 1.
(2) The membership of the National Archival Council and the rules of its work shall be established by the Council of Ministers.
Section V Archives and Archival Collections of Museums, Libraries, Cultural Clubs, Cultural, Religious and Other Public Institutions