Directive No. 726/TTg on Strengthening Guidance for Archival Work in the Coming Period

DIRECTIVE

On Strengthening Guidance for Archival Work in the Coming Period

Implementing the Ordinance on Protection of National Archive Materials issued by the State Council on December 11, 1982, archival work in central agencies and localities has gradually become organized in recent years. The archival materials have been utilized and exploited to some extent to meet the requirements for research serving political tasks of the Party and the Government.

However, archival work in state agencies from central to local levels still has many weaknesses: Archival work in many ministries, sectors, and localities has not been organized uniformly according to the general regulations of the State; material and technical conditions are insufficient to effectively perform archival tasks in various sectors and localities; archive storage facilities have not been constructed or renovated according to planning with systematic structures to ensure safe preservation of materials; the application of information technology in archival work is slow. Most archive rooms in ministries and provinces only have the capacity to store some files and documents of the ministry offices and provincial people's committees; the number of archival staff in ministries, sectors, and localities is insufficient and does not meet the professional requirements; in many places, there have been situations where archival materials are lost, damaged, or cannot be found when needed for reference, etc.

In order to promptly address the above situation, improve the quality and effectiveness of archival work to meet the requirements of national development and administrative reform, the Prime Minister requests that all sectors and levels implement the following actions:

1. The Government Organizational and Cadre Affairs Department shall guide ministries, general departments, provinces, and cities to organize uniformly the archival work units at all levels of state agencies; develop and implement plans for training archival staff, rectify clerical work in agencies and organizations to ensure proper preservation, exploitation, and utilization of archival materials to serve research needs. Ministries, sectors, and localities must allocate and utilize clerical and archival staff according to the civil service standards established by the State.

2. The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall guide sectors and localities to plan and develop projects for renovating and upgrading archival storage facilities of ministries, sectors, and localities in accordance with the professional guidance of the National Archives Administration to ensure safe and long-term preservation of archival materials.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance shall allocate funds in the annual budgets of sectors and localities for the collection and preservation of archival materials.

3. The National Archives Administration:

- Shall coordinate with the Central Party Office Archives Bureau, the Government Office Archives Bureau, and the Steering Committee for the National Information Technology Program to provide uniform guidelines on principles and methods for applying information technology in clerical and archival work, accelerate these activities according to modernization requirements.

- Shall inspect the entire preservation work of materials in national archival storage facilities to direct repairs, restoration, preservation, and security of materials according to technical requirements and standards.

4. Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies, Heads of government-affiliated agencies, Chairpersons of provincial people's committees under the central government are responsible for implementing this Directive.

Phan Van Khai

(Signed)