Act on Archiving (Archivgesetz) - Purpose

1. The State Archive and the Municipal Archives preserve cultural heritage, help secure rights, and serve the administration. They ensure an enduring documentary tradition for the public bodies of the canton and municipalities as well as for the public, particularly for research and education.

1. The law regulates the archival matters

a) of the Canton,

b) of the municipalities,

c) * of public-law corporations and institutions of the Canton and the municipalities that perform a public function, as well as private individuals, to the extent that they are entrusted by the Canton and the municipalities with the fulfillment of public functions, provided they process personal data and are subject to the Information and Data Protection Act.

2. The Government Council and the municipalities may subject the public-law corporations and institutions affiliated with them, as well as private persons and organizations entrusted with public functions, to the Archive Act, regardless of the condition in para. 1 lit. c.

3. The Government Council ensures that inter-cantonal institutions in which the Canton is involved comply with archival regulations in the sense of this law.

1. State Archives are all archival-worthy documents created by the public bodies of the canton and their legal predecessors. Municipal Archives are those archival-worthy documents created by public bodies of the municipalities and their legal predecessors.

2. Equated with State Archives or Municipal Archives are

a) the documents of corporations, institutions, individuals, and organizations subject to the Archive Act according to § 2 para. 1 lit. c and para. 2;

b) documents from other bodies and private individuals, which the State Archives and the municipal archives have accepted in the public interest;

c) documentation materials that serve to supplement the remaining archival records.

3. Documents include files, records, minutes, card indexes, plans, seals, image and sound documents, printed materials, as well as all other recorded information, irrespective of the medium, including the aids necessary for their understanding and use.

4. Documents are considered archival-worthy if they are expected to be of permanent value for

a) documenting the activities of public bodies,

b) purposes of legislation, administration, or jurisdiction,

c) securing the legitimate interests of affected individuals or third parties,

d) science and research,

e) understanding the present and history.

5. Public bodies are authorities and public services of the canton, the residential municipalities, the civic municipalities, as well as their public-law corporations and institutions. Public services of the canton are the administrative units (departments and staff offices) of the departments. Private individuals and organizations are equated with public bodies according to § 2 para. 1 lit. c and para. 2.

1. The provisions of the Notarial Act and federal laws regarding archives remain reserved.

1. The State Archives has the task of,

a) recording the documents of the public bodies of the Canton of Basel-Stadt and deciding on their archival value;

b) for the documents deemed to be of archival value

1. to take over, preserve, supplement, maintain, and restore them,

2. to catalog and make them available for use;

c) participating in the research and publication of state archival material.

2. The State Archives takes over, preserves, and catalogs, insofar as there is a public interest,

a) documents from other sources, particularly private ones;

b) documentation materials that serve to complement the other archival collections.

3. The State Archives participates in securing, cataloging, and making usable the documents of inter-cantonal institutions deemed to be of archival value, in which the Canton is involved.

4. The State Archives advises public bodies on the securing, management, and delivery of their documents; it issues guidelines for this purpose.

5. The State Archives advises municipalities on archival matters.

6. The State Archives may, in agreement with the offering public body, also take over documents for which there is not yet a requirement to offer and whose archival value has not yet been determined. Until this decision is made, the offering public body remains responsible in the sense of § 6 of the Information and Data Protection Act.

1. State archival material is stored in the state archives.

2. The state archives ensure the permanent preservation and usability of the archival material and protect it from unauthorized use or destruction.

3. Records and documentation materials that the state archives hold in fulfillment of its tasks pursuant to § 5 paragraphs 1 and 2 are inalienable.

4. State archival material may be exceptionally stored at another location pursuant to an agreement if permanent preservation, usability, and protection from unauthorized use in accordance with this law are guaranteed. Archiving is subject to the supervision of the state archives.

1. Public authorities are obligated to dispose of documents that are no longer needed for fulfilling their duties and periodically offer them to the state archive for acquisition.

2. Documents must also be offered if they

a) contain personal data that requires protection,

b) are subject to special confidentiality obligations.

2bis Documents related to employee discussions and those involving job applications that did not lead to employment are not to be offered.

2ter The offering of documents from employee discussions remains reserved with the consent of the concerned employee.

3. By agreement between the offering public authority and the state archive,

a) the type and scope of documents to be offered can be predetermined,

b) it can be agreed to forgo offering documents of clearly insignificant importance.

4. A person's obligation to offer documents continues even after their office or public mandate ends and passes to their heirs after their death.

1. The State Archive has unrestricted access to the registries as well as to the collections of data and documents of public bodies, to the extent necessary for the proper and efficient fulfillment of its duties.

1. All individuals have the right to use archival materials in accordance with this law.

2. The use is restricted or excluded as far as

a) there is reason to believe that otherwise overriding legitimate interests of an affected person or third parties would be impaired;

b) restrictive agreements have been made with the current or former owners of privately sourced archival materials;

c) it would result in a disproportionate administrative burden;

d) the preservation condition of the archival materials requires it.

3. The use is generally free of charge. Fees may be charged for special services provided by the State Archives.

4. The State Archives is entitled to a complimentary copy of works that are based substantially on the use of state archival materials.

1. Archival materials can generally be used only after a protection period of 30 years. Documents that were intended for publication or made accessible to the public at the time of creation or during their use are not subject to any protection period.

2. Documents that, by their purpose or essential content, relate to a natural person may only be used 10 years after the person's death. If the date of death is unknown or can only be determined with disproportionate effort, the protection period ends 100 years after birth. If neither the date of death nor the date of birth can be determined, the protection period ends 80 years after the completion of the documents.

3. For all periods related to documents, the relevant year is the year in which the documents were completed by supplementation or the last organic addition.

4. The protection periods pursuant to paragraphs 1 and 2 may be extended by a maximum of 20 years if compelling public interest requires it or if there is reason to believe that a shorter protection period would adversely affect overriding legitimate interests of an affected person or third parties.

5. The State Archive may make archival materials accessible for use before the expiration of the periods in paragraphs 1, 2, and 4 if it is ensured that the public interest and the overriding legitimate concerns of the affected persons or third parties are not impaired. It may make archival materials subject to protection periods according to paragraphs 2 and 2 and 4 accessible for use before their expiration if

a) the documents are necessary for the conduct of a specific research project or

b) the affected person - or after their death, their relatives - have consented to the use or

c) the use is in the overriding interest of the affected person or third parties.

6. In case of doubt, the State Archive shall consult the delivering public authority before shortening the protection periods. This particularly applies to documents with extended protection periods pursuant to paragraph 4.

7. The protection periods of paragraphs 1 and 2 do not apply to archival materials insofar as they were accessible under the Information and Data Protection Act before being transferred to the State Archive.

1. Archival materials, whose use is based on a reduction of the protection period pursuant to § 10 para. 5, may only be used for the purpose and under the conditions specified in the authorization issued by the State Archives. Violations will be punished according to the Criminal Code Art. 292.

2. Anyone who grossly violates the provisions of the usage regulations may be excluded from further use and held liable for damages.

1. The delivering public body may use its archival material notwithstanding the protection periods, insofar as this is necessary for the fulfillment of its tasks.

2. With the consent of the delivering public body, other public bodies may use archival material during the protection period, provided that they need it to fulfill their legal duties. Special confidentiality regulations remain reserved.

3. Paragraphs 1 and 2 do not apply to archival material containing personal data that has been offered to and accepted by the competent archive pursuant to § 18 of the Data Protection Act. An exception remains if the delivering public body or another public body must obviously access the archival material in the overriding interest of an affected person and this person has consented or their consent can be assumed under the circumstances.

1. Affected persons shall, upon request, be provided with information regarding their personal data, insofar as the archival material is indexed by personal names or contains information that allows the data to be located with reasonable effort.

2. Instead of providing information, access to the archival material may be granted.

3. Provision of information or access shall be restricted or denied if compelling public interests or overriding legitimate interests of third parties require it.

1. If an individual disputes the accuracy of personal data, they may request that a counterstatement be added to the records. After the death of the concerned individual, this right extends to their relatives if they assert a legitimate interest.

1. The municipal communities and the civic communities maintain archives for their documents of lasting value.

2. Their public-law corporations, establishments, and institutions, as well as private individuals and organizations, are subject to the Archival Law pursuant to § 2 paragraph 1 letter c. The municipalities may extend the application of the Archival Law pursuant to § 2 paragraph 2.

1. The following provisions of this Act shall apply mutatis mutandis to the municipalities

- § 5 concerning the duties of the archive

- § 6 concerning the safeguarding of archival materials

- § 7 concerning the obligation to offer

- §§ 9 - 11 concerning the principle of use, protection periods, infringements

- § 12 use by public authorities

- §§ 13 - 14 concerning information, inspection, and counterstatement.

1. Municipalities may, based on mutual agreements, have their archival tasks carried out in whole or in part by the State Archive.

1. The Government Council issues implementing provisions to this law by ordinance, particularly regarding the obligation to offer, the fees, and the usage including the submission of a copy and the reproduction of public archival materials.

2. The municipalities regulate the further details of their archival matters independently.

1. Orders of the State Archive are subject to appeal to the competent department. In all other respects, the general provisions of administrative justice apply.