Updated: 24/05/2024 10:20:57
The draft Law on Archives (amended) stipulates the responsibilities of agencies, organizations, and historical archives in declassifying documents, thereby enabling citizens to access documents from public authorities sooner.
The scene at Dien Hong Hall on the morning of May 24th.
One new and progressive aspect of the draft revised Archives Law, discussed by the National Assembly in the Dien Hong Hall this morning, May 24th, is the expansion of the scope of information that can be accessed.
According to the draft law submitted to the National Assembly, the draft stipulates the responsibilities of agencies, organizations, and historical archives in declassifying documents, specifically: “Within 5 years, the agency or organization that has identified state secrets is responsible for presiding over and coordinating with historical archives to declassify documents submitted to historical archives in accordance with the law on the protection of state secrets. The declassification of archival documents submitted to historical archives in cases where the agency that identified the state secret is no longer operational shall be carried out in accordance with the law on the protection of state secrets.”
Members of Parliament attending the meeting
Regarding documents from the defense, public security, and diplomatic sectors, the draft law grants the authority to "the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Public Security , and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to manage and archive documents generated during operations, reserve archive documents, archive documents of special value, and the archive document database of the defense, public security, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs sectors," but requires them to "annually create an index of permanent archive files and documents under their management and update it annually, sending it to the Ministry of Interior." The Minister of Defense, the Minister of Public Security, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs approve the list of conditionally accessible archive documents of the defense, public security, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs sectors.
By reducing the deadline for submitting documents to historical archives, citizens can access documents from public agencies sooner, shortening the period from 10 years from the year the work is completed (Archives Law of 2011) to 5 years from the year the documents are submitted to the current archives; effectively contributing to helping citizens exercise their right to supervise the activities of state agencies.
Furthermore, the draft Law on Archives (amended) stipulates that the head of an agency, organization, or historical archives is responsible for publicly disclosing the list of archived records and documents on the electronic portal and website, and for publishing archived documents under their management authority. The draft clearly defines the requirement for entities to proactively provide available information regularly, even without public requests, contributing to ensuring the right to seek information – one of the components of the right to access information.
According to ANH PHƯƠNG (SGGP)
Source
Comment (0)