ORDER OF THE
CHIEF ARCHIVIST OF LITHUANIA
REGARDING THE APPROVAL OF ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT REGULATIONS
29 December 2011, No. V-158
Vilnius
Following Clause 4 of Part 3 of Article 5 and Part of Article 11 of the Law on Documents and Archives of the Republic of Lithuania (Official Gazette 1995, No. 107-2389; 2004, No. 57-1982; 2010, No. 79-4055):
1. to approve of the Electronic Document Management Regulations (enclosed).
2. to repeal the Order No. V-12 of the General Director of the Lithuanian Archives Department under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania Regarding the Approval of Electronic Document Management Regulations of 11 January 2006 (Official Gazette 2006, No.. 7-268)
CHIEF ARCHIVIST OF LITHUANIARamojus Kraujelis
______
APPROVED by
Order No. V-158 of the Chief Archivist of Lithuania
of the 29 December 2011
Electronic document management regulations
I. general provisions
1. Electronic Document Management Regulations (hereinafter – the Regulations) shall establish the general requirements of preparation, management, accounting, retention of electronic documents and management of electronic document systems of the state and municipal institutions, agencies and enterprises and other subjects authorized to perform the public administration functions and persons authorized by the state (hereinafter – the Institutions).
2. The requirements laid down in these Regulations shall be recommendatory for non-governmental organizations and private legal persons; however they must prepare, manage and include into accounting the electronic documents, the preparation of which is governed by the normative legislation, according to the procedure laid down in the laws and other legislation, store them for the required time period and assure that the available electronic documents would remain authentic, reliable and accessible during all their retention period.
3. Terms used in these Regulations:
Archival Electronic Signature – an electronic signature whereby a converted copy of an electronic document, that is indented for storage by information technology means, is approved.
Electronic File – a set of electronic documents and information related thereto structured according to certain criteria.
Extract of Electronic Document – a part of required text or other data provided from an electronic document.
Content of Electronic Document – a part of electronic document wherein the information is provided in a textual, graphical or another form. The content of electronic document shall not include the metadata and electronic signatures.
Electronic Documents Storage – the entirety of technical and software tools for storage of electronic documents, data of their accounting documents and other information related thereto.
Electronic Document Management System – a part of document management system of an enterprise functioning on the basis of information technologies intended for preparation, management, including into accounting, storage and deletion of electronic documents.
Converted Copy – electronic document data obtained by converting the content of electronic document and/or metadata.
Copy-Certification Electronic Signature – a qualified electronic signature whereby the authenticity of a copy, a security copy or extract of converted electronic version of an enterprise document is certified.
Qualified Electronic Signature – an advanced electronic signature created by a securesignature-creation device and approved by a valid qualified certificate.
Metadata – structural data describing composition, surroundings of a document and specifics of its management during an entire period of document existence.
Other terms used in the Regulations shall meet the terms used in the Law on Documents and Archives of the Republic of Lithuania (Official Gazette 1995, No. 107-2389; 2004, No. 57-1982; 2010, No. 79-4055), the Law on Electronic Signature of the Republic of Lithuania (Official Gazette 2000, No. 61-1827), Document Preparation Regulations approved by the Order No. V-117 of the Chief Archivist of the Republic of Lithuania of 4 July 2011 (Official Gazette 2011, No. 88-4229) and Document Management and Accounting Regulations approved by the Order No. V-118 of the Chief Archivist of the Republic of Lithuania of 4 July 2011 (Official Gazette 2011, No. 88-4230).
II. ORGANIZATION OF ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT
General requirements for electronic document management
4. General provisions of document management, document access and their use that are established by the laws and other legislation shall be applicable to the electronic documents.
5. The head of the institution or other person authorized by him/her (hereinafter – the Head) shall:
5.1. Make the decisions which information technologies shall be used in an enterprise for the management of electronic documents, creation and maintenance of electronic document management system;
5.2. Appoint the structural divisions or employees responsible for administration of an electronic document management system and electronic document management, establish their authorizations and responsibilities as well as other means of control of electronic document access.
5.3. Establish the organizational and technical means assuring the retention of authenticity, integrity, reliability and suitability of electronic documents for the entire period of their existence, transfer of electronic documents for their further retention (if the documents are to be transferred for further retention according to the procedure set forth by legislation) and respective protection of these documents the access to which is limited by the laws;
5.4. Make the decision with respect to the actions of enterprise’s electronic document retention;
5.5. Establish safety measures of electronic documents and electronic documents management system;
5.6. Establish which electronic documents of enterprise activities, that are briefly retained and non-transferable to other natural or legal persons, may be signed by electronic signature having the legal force which is a non-qualified electronic signature;
6. The division or employees responsible for the administration of electronic document management system of enterprise shall:
6.1. Monitor the functioning of electronic document management system of the enterprise, detect failures or errors of electronic document management system and initiate their elimination;
6.2. Appoint, change or cancel the functions and access rights in the electronic document management system established by the Head for the employees or groups of employees;
6.3. Transfer the information located in an electronic document management system to more advanced information technology means in order to preserve the data integrity;
6.4. Attribute, change or cancel the limitations of access to an electronic document, electronic files or their volumes established by the legislation (all changes are recorded in metadata);
6.5. Submit the proposals regarding the electronic document management system administration and other issues associated with its functioning to the Head of the enterprise.
General requirements forelectronic document management systems
7.The Head shall take the decision regarding the functions performed by an electronic document management system, taking into consideration the functions assigned to an enterprise as well as the requirements of legislation and these Regulations.
8. An electronic document management system must perform the following functions:
8.1. Manage (prepare, handle, include into accounting, retain, etc.) the electronic documents that meet at least one specification of the electronic document approved by or coordinated with the Chief Archivist of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter – the “Specification (-s)”);
8.2. Verify the conformity of an electronic document to the Specification;
8.3. Following the procedure established by the Specifications and Electronic Signature Regulations create and verify an electronic signature and retain the evidence of its validity;
8.4. Assure that it would not be possible to register the same electronic document for the second time;
8.5. Conduct the search in all levels of an electronic document management system (activity field (functions), electronic files and their volumes, electronic data, metadata and other) and provide results (reports) of the search;
8.6. Make a list of all actions performed during an electronic document transfer (for example to another information system);
8.7. Prevent from destruction or deletion otherwise an electronic file, its volumes and electronic documents assigned to them as well as their metadata from the electronic document management system, if the information about an approved electronic document deletion certificate was not entered into the metadata of an electronic file or its volume.
9. The electronic document management system may perform more functions:
9.1. Fill in automatically the metadata of an electronic document;
9.2. Register automatically the electronic documents;
9.3. Assign automatically or change, if needed, the established retention period of an electronic file, its volume or electronic document;
9.4. Complete automatically the electronic files and their volumes;
9.5. Print the content of electronic documents, their metadata, information about electronic signatures also other information located in an electronic document management system (electronic document search results, reports about the performed management actions or other);
9.6. Prepare a copy, extract of an electronic document or converted copy by specifying in the metadata a job title, name and surname of a person who approved a copy, extract or converted copy as well as an approval date and reason for preparation;
9.7. Transfer the electronic documents for retention to the state archives following the established procedure;
9.8. Submit the accounting data of the electronic documents to the state archives;
9.9. Draw up the reports wherein the data confirming the deletion of electronic documents is recorded;
9.10. Perform other functions necessary to the enterprise.
10. The metadata of the electronic documents (files) are accumulated during an electronic document management (Annexes 1 and 2). The metadata specified in Annex 1 hereof shall be applicable inasmuch as it does not contradict to the requirements for metadata established in the Specifications.
III. PREPARATION OF THE ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS
11. The general requirements for the structureof an electronic document shall be established by the Description of Requirements of the Electronic Document Specification that is subject toapproval by an order of the Chief Archivist of Lithuania.
12. The electronic documents being prepared by an enterprise as well as copies, extracts, converted copies must meet the requirements established by the Specifications. Requirements for the electronic documents established in these Regulations shall be applicable insofar as they do not contravene the requirements established by the Specifications and other legislation.
13. The electronic documents that are prepared must meet the content formats set out in the Specifications.
14. The content of the electronic documents must be executed in accordance with the requirements established in the Document Preparation Regulations unless the other acts of legislation and these Regulations set forth otherwise.
The content of electronic documents that are equivalent tothe written documents must be prepared in the manner to assure a steady view of its content by the information technology means during any review.
15. An electronic document shall be co-ordinated (when the co-ordination is carried out with legal persons), approved and signed by a qualified electronic signature.
Entire content of an electronic document and other undersigned elements shall be signed by a qualified electronic signature unless other acts of legislation set forth otherwise.
In a content of an electronic document a detail of signature shall be executed without a signature and parts of approval and co-ordination marks – without a signature and date.
16. An approval, resolution and review marks shall not be written in a content of an electronic document.
For provision of approval of content of an electronic document, execution of resolution and review mark the enterprise may choose:
16.1. a qualified electronic signature;
16.2. an electronic signature having the legal force which is not a qualified electronic signature (in this case the possibility to identify a person who executed the resolution, approved an electronic document or a person who reviewed such document must be anticipated as well as the possibility to save the data about these actions).
17. Copy-certification electronic signature shall be used for the certification of copies, extracts and converted copies of an electronic document.
Content of an electronic document must have the following details: a special mark (a word „Extract“ in bold letters), name of document author, document name (title), document date, registration number, entire text of a document, parts of signature details (without a signature).
An extract of an electronic document must have the following details: a special mark (a word „Extract“ in bold letters), name of document author, document name (title), document date, registration number and required part of a document text and parts of signature details (without a signature).
18. Electronic signatures must meet the electronic signature creation and verification requirements established in the Specifications and Electronic Signature Regulations.
If certain time marks are included in a qualified electronic signature, they must meet the requirements established in the legal acts of legislation.
IV. REGISTRATION OF THE ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS, ACCEPTANCE OF RECEIVED ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS AND Management OF OUTGOING ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS
19. The electronic documents issued or received by the enterprise must be registered.
20. The electronic documents must be registered in the registers of an enterprise documents according to a list of registers of enterprise documents approved by the Head.
21. Electronic documents may be registered in the general or consolidated registers of the enterprise together with the paper documents by specifying that a document is an electronic document.
In consideration of the character of the enterprise activities, the Head may also establish the separate registers of electronic documents.
22. The electronic documents must be registered on the day on which they are received, signed or approved.
23. In course of electronic document registration, the registration number consisting of an identification mark of document register and a number of document registration in the document register, must be attributed to an electronic document. The registration data must be unique.
The electronic documents prepared or received during a calendar year shall be registered in the document registers unless the other acts of legislation establish otherwise.
24. An electronic document shall be registered one time and a registration number assigned to it shall not be changed.
25. Data about registration of an electronic document which was issued by an enterprise (date and number of registration) shall be specified in the metadata.
If an electronic document is registered prior to its signing, the content of an electronic document which was issued by an enterprise may specify the date and number of registration.
26. An electronic document which was issued by an enterprise may be send to an addressee without the approvals or with approvals.
If an enterprise selects anapproval method of an electronic document content specified in Clause 16.1 hereof, however it wishes to send an electronic document to an addressee without the approvals, it may prepare two copies of an electronic document, one of which with approvals made bythe persons in charge and the other one – without such approvals, signed by a qualified electronic signature and send to an addressee and stored in an enterprise for a period which is no less than one year.
If an enterprise selects an approval method of an electronic document content specified in Clause 16.2 hereof, the actions of approval shall be recorded in an electronic document management system and an electronic document signed by qualified electronic signature without the approvals shall be sent to an addressee and retained by an enterprise for the established period.Data about the actions of approval shall be stored in an electronic document management system for no less than one year.
27. Received electronic document shall be registered if it meets the Specification, is signed by a valid electronic signature and it is possible to identify its content. A document that does not meet these requirements shall not be registered and a sender shall be notified hereof, provided it is possible to establish the data of his/her connection.
If a document that does not meet the Specifications is received from the foreign correspondents, the Head shall make a decision regarding its inclusion into accounting and further management in an enterprise.
28. Data about registration of a received electronic document (date of electronic document receipt by an enterprise, number of receipt registration, name and code of an enterprise that received a document) shall be specified in the metadata. Date of electronic document receipt by an enterprise and number of receipt registration, the name and code of an enterprise that received a document shall not be specified in a content of electronic document.
V. CREATION OF THE ELECTRONIC FILES
Creation of the electronic files
29. The electronic documents issued or received by an enterprise and registered shall be systematized to the electronic files according to a plan of enterprise documentation.
The electronic files shall be recorder in the plan of enterprise documentation in accordance with the established areas (functions) of activities taking into consideration a structure of an enterprise and conferred authorizations.
30. All electronic files the creation or continuation of which is anticipated in the next year shall be included in the plan of enterprise documentation by specifying the structural divisions or employees in charge of their creation.
31. An index composed of a number of clause and sub-clause of the documentation plan and a mark „E“ referring to a file form (electronic) shall be attributed to each electronic file. The index of an electronic file may be supplemented by the data referring to a location of file creation (for example 1.1-03 E, where 1.1. – number, 03 – structural division, E – file form).
32. An electronic file may be divided in volumes that are formed according to the selected attribute of systematization of electronic document (for example, a format of an electronic document according to the Specifications).
33. The file index specified in the plan of enterprise documentation supplemented by a volume number, if any, shall be assigned to all volumes of the electronic files (for example 1.1 E1, where 1.1 – an index of an electronic file according to the plan of enterprise documentation, E – file form, 1 – number of electronic volume) also a heading shall be specified that must meet the file heading and the retention period. Each heading of the electronic file volume may be supplemented by a sub-heading, taking into consideration the content of electronic documents attributed to a volume or other selected attribute of systematization.
34. The electronic document retention period shall be established in accordance with the requirements set out in the Document Management and Accounting Regulations.
Management of completed electronic files
35. Having a calendar year ended, the electronic files that are not to be continued in an upcoming year shall be completed and managed.
36. The employees in charge of management of the electronic files can make the amendments in the completed electronic file or its volume, if needed.
37. The electronic files shall be managed as follows:
37.1. The retention periods of each file, its volumes and documents attributed thereto shall be verified in accordance with a plan of enterprise documentation and legal acts wherein such periods are established. If documents that do not meet aheading or sub-heading (if any) of an electronic file or specified retention period are attributed to an electronic file, such documents shall be attributed to proper electronic files.