The Law on Archival Material and Archival Activities has introduced significant obligations for legal entities – limited liability companies registered to conduct activities on the territory of the Republic of Serbia, as well as other relevant participants, state institutions, and enterprises.
The law regulates not only the protection system for archival materials, which includes selected original documents or records and, in the absence of the original, any reproduced form of a document or record created by the work and operation of state bodies and organizations, bodies of territorial autonomy and local self-government units, institutions, public enterprises, public authority holders, commercial companies, entrepreneurs, individuals conducting registered activities, religious communities, as well as other legal or physical persons of permanent importance to culture, art, science, education, and other social areas, regardless of when and where they were created, whether they are located in cultural heritage institutions or outside, and regardless of the form and medium on which they are preserved, but also the protection system for documentary material, i.e., the whole set of documents or records created or received by the operation and work of entities, in the original or reproduced form of a document, regardless of the form and format of recording, as well as prescribed records about it.
Administrative responsibility for non-compliance with the provisions of this regulation carries monetary sanctions ranging from 50,000.00 to 2,000,000.00 dinars for legal entities and 5,000.00 to 150,000.00 dinars for responsible persons in legal entities. The mentioned sanctions can represent an excessive burden for our country’s already endangered economy, which is facing rising prices at a global level, and thus an increase in business costs. Below you can read what offenses the Law prescribes and what actions or omissions of limited liability companies entail liability for the offense.
Violation of the prohibition of destruction, damage, and preservation of archival material
The law stipulates that archival material must not be destroyed or damaged, unless the selection of archival material has been carried out, regardless of whether the material that makes up the archival material is microfilmed or digitized. Also, the law obliges to permanently preserve archival material, i.e., all those materials of permanent significance for culture, art, science, education, and other social areas.
Violation of the obligation to preserve archival material and documentary material
A limited liability company, as the creator and holder of archival material and documentary material, is obliged to conscientiously preserve in an organized and secure state the archival material and documentary material in the form in which they were created. This obligation does not apply to physical persons, i.e., entrepreneurs. The company is obliged to:
- provide appropriate space and equipment for the storage and protection of archival material and documentary material;
- appoint a responsible professional person for the protection of archival material and documentary material and handling of archival material and documentary material;
- record, label, classify, date, and archive archival material and documentary material;
- hand over archival material to the competent archive under the conditions and within the deadlines set by this law;
- ensure the permanent preservation of archival material in electronic form, its maintenance, migration, or transfer to new media in prescribed formats until the delivery of archival material in electronic form to the competent public archive;
- keep an archive book in a prescribed form;
- submit to the competent archive a copy of the archive book by no later than April 30 of the current year, for documentary material created in the previous year;
- obtain the opinion of the competent archive before undertaking measures related to archival material and documentary material (status changes, physical relocation, adaptation of premises, opening of bankruptcy or liquidation, microfilming, digitization, etc.);
- select archival material and separate for destruction worthless documentary material whose retention period has expired, one year from the expiration of the established period;
- enable the authorized person of the competent public archive to professionally supervise the recording, classifying, selecting, archiving, preserving, professional maintenance, and protection of archival material, or its selection from documentary material;
- act in accordance with the measures and deadlines ordered by the competent archive by decision based on the previously drawn up report on the determined state of protection of archival material and documentary material;
- notify the competent public archive of all changes of significance to the archival material no later than 30 days from the date of their occurrence.
The competent archive is authorized to first warn the company about the existence of a violation of these obligations, after which it can initiate administrative proceedings against the company and the responsible person in the company before the competent court.
Violation of the obligation to preserve archival material as a whole
The law prescribes the obligation of the creator and holder of archival material and documentary material to preserve archival material as a whole – archival fund. Violation of this obligation also entails administrative liability.
Violations of the obligations of creators and holders of archival material and documentary material in electronic form
The creator and holder of archival material and documentary material in electronic form are obliged to implement procedures and processes related to document management, and to use an information system that guarantees the protection, authenticity, reliability, integrity, and usability of electronic documents. The creator and holder of archival material and documentary material prepares archival material and documentary material for reliable electronic storage and performs reliable electronic storage of archival material and documentary material in accordance with the regulations governing reliable electronic storage and in accordance with the regulations issued based on this law.
Violations of obligations related to document management
The creator and holder, except for physical persons, are obliged to issue:
- a general act on the method of recording, classifying, archiving, and preserving archival material and documentary material;
- a list of categories of archival material and documentary material with retention periods;
- a general act on the method of recording, protection, and use of electronic documents.
The said general acts are issued in the form of special regulations. The competent public archive gives consent to the list of categories of archival material and documentary material with retention periods. The jurisdiction of the archive is determined according to the place of business of the obligor. Thus, companies are obliged to submit all prescribed acts to the competent archive, after which the competent archive examines the submitted documentation and gives consent to the established procedures.
Violation of obligations for the selection of archival material and destruction of documentary material whose retention period has expired
The creator and holder of archival material and documentary material are obliged, after the selection of archival material, to separate for destruction documentary material whose retention period has expired. This obligation applies to documentary material created by the work and operation of state bodies and organizations, bodies of territorial autonomy and local self-government units, institutions, public enterprises, and holders of public authority, whose retention period has expired and is destroyed upon obtaining written approval from the competent public archive.
Violation of the obligation to hand over archival material to the competent public archive
The creator or holder of archival material, sorted and inventoried archival material, hands it over for storage to the competent public archive after 30 years from the day of its creation. Violation of this obligation entails administrative liability.
Violation of the obligation to hand over archival material and documentary material created in the work of the creator and holder who has ceased operations
The archival material and documentary material of the creator and holder who has ceased operations must be taken over and kept, in accordance with the provisions of this law, by his legal successor. Selected, sorted, and inventoried, undamaged, or with repaired damages, archival material and documentary material, created in the work of the creator and holder who has ceased operations and has no legal successor are considered due for takeover by the competent public archive, unless otherwise provided by law. The bankruptcy administrator is obliged to hand over the selected, sorted, and inventoried archival material, undamaged or with repaired damages to the competent public archive no later than one year from the date of opening the bankruptcy proceedings.
Failure to take measures to rectify deficiencies as ordered by the competent authority
The public archive performs professional supervision over the recording, classifying, selecting, archiving, preserving, professional maintenance, and protection of archival material, or its selection from documentary material, which is located at the creator and holder of archival material and documentary material, and orders the taking of measures to rectify the identified deficiencies in terms of protecting archival material and documentary material. If the company does not take the prescribed measures, it realizes the characteristics of an offense by its omission.
The Law on Archival Material and Archival Activities in Serbia imposes significant responsibility on legal entities to protect and preserve archival and documentary material. Non-compliance results in significant monetary fines, indirectly indicating the importance of adhering to these regulations to protect cultural, artistic, and historical assets and avoid financial burdens. This law serves as a vital framework for maintaining the integrity and preservation of Serbia’s rich historical and cultural heritage, as well as for preserving documentary material as an indicator of the transparency of company operations.