General Provisions

1. The purpose of the law is to

a) regulate the activities of public archives as institutions of authentic documentation, legal certainty, and traceability of governmental actions;

b) preserve public archives as centers for historical research and promote coordination among archives.

1. Documents are recorded information, regardless of the medium on which they are stored. This includes all tools necessary for understanding and utilizing the information.

2. Documents worthy of archiving are those that are valuable for legal, administrative, political, economic, historical, social, or cultural reasons and are important for an authentic transmission.

3. Archival materials are documents that have been accepted for preservation by an archive.

4. Archives are entities engaged in shaping historical memory and consciousness by acquiring documents from agencies, permanently preserving these archival materials as cultural assets, and making them accessible to the public. The pre-archives of the agencies are not considered archives under the terms of this law.

5. The following terms from the Cantonal Data Protection Act also apply to this law: "Personal Data," "Particularly Sensitive Personal Data," "Profiling," "Data Subjects," "Canton," "Municipalities," and "Agencies."

1. This law applies to the canton and to the municipalities.

2. It also applies to natural persons, legal entities, and commercial partnerships, insofar as they are entrusted with public tasks.

3. Authorities that delegate public tasks to persons or partnerships according to paragraph 2 are responsible for ensuring compliance with this law.

1. Authorities that process documents in the exercise of a public function are required to retain them until a decision on their archival value is made.

1. The organs systematically manage their records. The competent executive issues related regulations.

2. The competent executive determines which archive-suitable materials and data formats are to be used.

3. The archive advises the organs regarding the organization, preservation, security, and digitization of the records.

4. The organs are obliged to provide information to the archive concerning archival matters.

1. The archive determines the archival value in agreement with the authorities.

2. In the event of disputes regarding the archival value, the documents are provisionally archived.

1. Agencies deliver the records worthy of archiving to the archive.

2. The archive agrees with the agencies on the periodicity of the deliveries.

3. The archive advises agencies on how the records are to be prepared for delivery.

4. Delivered records may no longer be altered.

5. Individuals and partnerships pursuant to § 3 paragraph 2 deliver their records to a public archive, provided they do not have their own archives.

1. The archive accepts documents in their original form or in an equivalent form on a substitutive data carrier.

2. The archive makes its archival materials accessible through directories and finding aids, so that the public can use the archival materials.

3. The archive preserves the archival materials securely and appropriately.

1. Archival materials are inalienable. The competent executive authority may grant exceptions.

2. Third parties cannot acquire archival materials through acquisitive prescription.

1. Archival materials are publicly accessible after the expiration of protection periods. Access is free of charge. However, a fee may be charged for services requiring significant effort, in accordance with the Administrative Fee Schedule of March 11, 1974. The competent executive authority will issue regulations regarding use.

2. During the protection periods, archival materials are not publicly accessible. Exceptions are the rights of access stipulated in §§ 15 to 18.

1. The regular protection period is 30 years.

2. Documents that were already publicly accessible before their delivery shall remain so.

1. Archival material containing particularly sensitive personal data or profiles and their results is subject to an extended protection period of 100 years. This period is waived if the person concerned consents to inspection.

2. The extended protection period ends prematurely if 50 years have passed since the death of the person concerned. Proof of death must be provided by the person seeking to inspect the archival material.

1. **The Archive may, in cases of legitimate public or private interests, restrict access to certain categories of archival materials or to individual cases after the expiration of the ordinary or extended protection period.**

1. The ordinary and the extended protection period begins to run from the date of the most recent document in a dossier or a matter.

1. Access to archived official documents is governed by the Act on the Public Principle of Administration (Public Access Act) dated February 20, 2014.

2. Access to the remaining archival materials is granted in accordance with Sections 15-17.

1. The archive shall provide affected persons with information and grant them access to specifically designated archival materials within the protection period.

2. The archive may restrict, impose conditions on, postpone, or deny the provision of information and access due to overriding interests of the public or third parties. The provision of information and access may also be postponed or restricted if they are incompatible with efficient administrative management.

3. If an affected person considers information about themselves in the archival materials to be incorrect, they may have this noted. The archival materials themselves must not be altered.

1. The Archive provides information and grants access to archival materials to bodies within the protection period, provided that this is necessary for the fulfillment of the bodies' duties.

1. The Archive may provide information to third parties and grant them access to the archival materials within the protection period if there are no overriding public or private interests. The delivering agency and, in case of doubt, the affected person shall be heard.

2. Information provision and access are granted upon a written request. Approval is granted if there is an important reason, particularly for research purposes. § 15 paragraph 2 sentence 2 remains reserved.

3. The Archive may impose conditions with the approval, particularly concerning the further use of the information.

1. The right to access private archival materials, which the archive has acquired through donations or deposit agreements with third parties, is governed by the respective agreements.

2. In the absence of such regulation, the provisions of this law apply.

1. The State Archive is a center of expertise for cantonal and municipal archiving. It

a) promotes archiving;

b) makes its archival knowledge available to archives;

c) provides free advice and support to municipal archives;

d) is authorized to enter into cooperation agreements with municipalities;

e) promotes historical research in the areas of national, local, and personal history and encourages publications;

f) is committed to the preservation of third-party documents of archival value if they are of cantonal significance. It is authorized to enter into relevant donation or deposit agreements.

2. The State Archive is the central archive for the organs of the canton.

1. Every municipality maintains an archive.

2. The municipal archive performs similar functions for the organs of the municipality as the state archive does for the organs of the canton.

1. A fine shall be imposed on anyone who intentionally discloses information from archival material that is subject to a protection period or is expressly exempted from publication by other means.

2. Upon request, a fine shall be imposed on anyone who intentionally

a) withholds, removes, or destroys documents from archiving, or

b) alters or destroys archival material.

1. The municipalities shall ensure that within four years of the enactment of this law, the archival materials are stored safely and properly (§ 8 para. 3).

1. This law shall enter into force the day after its publication in the Official Gazette, following the unused referendum period (§ 34 of the Cantonal Constitution) or after approval by the people.