Ordinance on Records Management and Archiving (VAA) - Archivability (VAA)

1. Documents are considered worthy of archiving under [Art. 1](https://www.gesetzessammlung.sg.ch/data/147.1/en/art1) letter f of the Law on Record Keeping and Archiving dated April 19, 2011[[3]](#paragraphtext_content_fn_252951_2_3_c) if they are of enduring value for

| | | | |

| --- | --- | --- | --- |

| a) | the documentation of the organization and activities of the public body; | | |

| | | | |

| --- | --- | --- | --- |

| b) | the safeguarding of legitimate interests of the public body, affected persons, or third parties; | | |

| | | | |

| --- | --- | --- | --- |

| c) | the understanding of history and the present; | | |

| | | | |

| --- | --- | --- | --- |

| d) | legislation, administrative action, and jurisdiction; | | |

| | | | |

| --- | --- | --- | --- |

| e) | science and research. | | |

1. The public authority refers to a person responsible for implementing the regulations on record keeping, the duty of offering and delivering documents, and, in the event of lacking archival value, their destruction. The executive responsibilities remain with the leadership of the public authority.

2. The municipality may designate the employee responsible for managing the municipal archive as the responsible person.

3. The public authority notifies the state archive of the responsible person.

1. The independent public-law municipal enterprise, the municipal association, and the special-purpose association each designate the municipal archive of a participating municipality as the responsible archive.

1. The State Archive includes the archival materials

a) of the bailiwicks before the year 1798, as well as those of the Canton of Säntis and the St. Gallen parts of the Canton of Linth from the years 1798 to 1803;

b) of the public bodies of the canton as well as its autonomous public-law institutions and foundations;

c) from institutions, organizations, families, and individuals, insofar as their archival materials are significant for the history of the canton and are submitted to the State Archive for safekeeping;

d) from municipalities, insofar as their archival materials are submitted to the State Archive for permanent safekeeping.

1. The State Archive acts as the highest cantonal specialized body for records management and archiving, as well as the supervisory authority over municipal archives, ensuring that public bodies handle their documents

a) independently of the information carrier, they are created and managed in accordance with the provisions of the Records Management and Archiving Act of April 19, 2011, concerning safeguarding;

b) they are handled according to uniform principles from their creation until archiving.

1. Technical Guidelines of the State Archive pursuant to Art. 4 para. 2 of the Act on Record Keeping and Archiving of April 19, 2011 apply to the public authority as follows

a) For the canton as well as independent public-law institutions and foundations of the canton, they are binding requirements. The State Archive and the competent authority of the institution or foundation may regulate technical matters by agreement;

b) For municipalities, independent public-law municipal enterprises, as well as municipal associations and special-purpose associations, they are considered recommendations.

1. The State Archive issues technical guidelines particularly concerning

a) minimum requirements for physical and electronic record-keeping;

b) the creation of a filing system;

c) the storage of records and retention periods;

d) the safeguarding of records in electronic systems and prerequisites for electronic long-term archiving;

e) the appraisal of records regarding archivable value and the conclusion of archiving agreements between public authorities and the competent archive;

f) offering records to the competent archive and the creation of an electronic list of offerings;

g) the preparation of records for delivery to the competent archive.

1. The State Archive may instruct the Municipal Archive to archive documents of particular historical or legal significance.

2. It issues an order.

1. The State Archive advises and supports the municipal archives within the scope of available financial and personnel resources, in particular

a) with work aids for record keeping and archiving;

b) by providing information on the evaluation of documents with regard to the decision on their archival value;

c) in structural and spatial matters as well as in the acquisition of archival furniture;

d) by offering continuing education opportunities in record keeping and archiving;

e) by providing technical information;

f) in the development of usage regulations and fee schedules.

**1. The State Archive may, within the scope of its oversight:**

a) require information from public bodies of the municipality as well as independent public-law municipal enterprises, municipal associations, and special-purpose associations, and from the responsible persons, regarding organization and competencies, as well as the implementation of the Act on Record Management and Archiving of April 19, 2011, and this decree;

b) visit the municipal archive with prior notice and advise the head of the municipal archive and the responsible person on site.

**2. If deficiencies or possibilities for improvement are identified, the State Archive shall provide the head of the municipal archive and the responsible person with a written report containing recommendations.**

**3. If the rectification of deficiencies or the implementation of improvement measures is expected to result in significant costs, the State Archive shall submit the report and recommendations to the council.**

1. The public body shall ensure that record-keeping complies with the principles of reliability, authenticity, integrity, as well as usability and availability.

2. The terms are defined as follows

a) Reliability: correct, systematic, and accurate recording of the business transaction;

b) Authenticity: verifiable authorship of the documents and clear traceability of the chronological and substantive facts underlying the recorded business transaction;

c) Integrity: completeness and unaltered nature of the retained recording compared to the originally executed recording of the business transaction;

d) Usability and Availability: permanently demonstrable, retrievable, and usable recording of the business transaction.

3. The requirements apply accordingly to electronic record-keeping.

1. The public authority establishes a task-related filing system for its documents.

2. The public authority of the canton, as well as an independent public-law institution and foundation of the canton, submits the filing system to the state archive for review. The state archive gives its opinion and comments particularly on the compliance with the technical guidelines according to Article 7 letter b in connection with Article 6 letter a of this decree.

1. The public authority shall fully retain the records until the execution of the decision by the competent archive regarding their archival value.

2. It shall ensure that the records are protected from harmful influences, particularly from fire, dust, moisture, water, and pests, as well as from loss and deletion.

3. It shall grant the competent archive access to the physical and electronic files, to the extent necessary for the effective and economical fulfillment of its duties.

1. The public authority of the canton, as well as an autonomous public-law institution and foundation of the canton, involves the state archive in the planning of new electronic systems with regard to the assessment and delivery of documents.

2. The public authority of the municipality, as well as an autonomous public-law municipal enterprise, municipal association, and special-purpose association, may request advice and participation from the state archive.

**1. Documents are considered no longer needed and are subject to the offer obligation when:**

a) they no longer need to be or are rarely required for the administrative actions of the public authority;

b) a prescribed retention period has expired;

c) they can no longer be processed by the public authority for reasons of data protection.

**2. The public authority shall, without further ado, offer documents older than 50 years to the competent archive.**

**3. It ensures the transport or, in the case of records on an electronic information carrier, the electronic transmission of the documents to be delivered to the competent archive.**

1. The State Archive enters into an archiving agreement with the public body of the canton as well as the autonomous public-law institution and foundation of the canton.

2. The archiving agreements designate the records worthy of archiving and particularly regulate their retention periods and the delivery to the State Archive.

3. They may provide retention periods for records not worthy of archiving.

1. The public authority delivers the official publications to the competent archive immediately after their issuance without solicitation.

2. Official publications are considered to be the one-time and periodically recurring publications of the public authority that are generally accessible. This also includes publications that are published electronically.

1. The offices responsible for providing archival space and additional archival infrastructure for the canton and municipalities shall take the necessary protective measures to ensure the safe and permanent preservation of archival materials.

2. Rooms designated for archiving shall specifically protect archival materials from

a) fire, dust, humidity, water, and pests;

b) direct sunlight and harmful climatic influences;

c) unauthorized access and alteration;

d) theft, damage, and destruction.

3. The dimensioning and furnishing of the rooms, and their climate control where necessary, shall support the effectiveness of the protective measures.

1. The public body of the municipality, as well as the independent public-law municipal enterprise, municipal association, and special-purpose association, along with the responsible archive, shall ensure that documents and archival materials are stored separately.

1. In the event of changes in the status of municipalities under the provisions of the Municipal Amalgamation Act of April 17, 2007

a) The united municipality shall keep the archival materials of the former municipalities separate from each other and separate from its own archival materials;

b) The municipality to which the archives of another municipality are legally transferred, and the municipality to which the archives of another municipality are transferred in whole or in part based on a mutual decision, shall keep the archival materials separate from their own.

2. For changes in the status of municipalities prior to the effective date of this enactment, paragraph 1 of this provision shall be applied accordingly.

3. The State Archives shall apply paragraphs 1 and 2 of this provision accordingly when archival materials from municipalities are delivered to it for permanent storage following changes in status.

1. In the case of joint municipal archives pursuant to [Art. 5](https://www.gesetzessammlung.sg.ch/data/147.1/en/art5) paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Act on Record Keeping and Archiving dated April 19, 2011, the joint archive shall store the archival material of the participating municipalities separately from one another.

2. When archival material of a municipality is permanently transferred to the State Archive pursuant to [Art. 7](https://www.gesetzessammlung.sg.ch/data/147.1/en/art7) of the Act on Record Keeping and Archiving dated April 19, 2011, the State Archive shall store the transferred archival material separately from the archival material of the canton and from other transferred archival material.

1. The separation of documents and archival materials or of different archival materials pursuant to Articles 19 to 21 of this decree shall be effected spatially or by labeling the respective archival materials.

1. A User Regulation is enacted by

| | | | |

| --- | --- | --- | --- |

| a) | the Department of the Interior for the State Archives; | | |

| | | | |

| --- | --- | --- | --- |

| b) | the Council for the Municipal Archives. In the case of joint archives according to [Art. 5](https://www.gesetzessammlung.sg.ch/data/147.1/en/art5) of the Act on Records Management and Archiving of April 19, 2011[[10]](#enumeration_itemtext_content_fn_149550_2_10_c), the council of the municipality maintaining the archive is responsible. | | |

2. The State Archivist and the Head of the Municipal Archive may restrict or withdraw access to the archive in the case of serious violations against the user regulation.

3. Serious violations particularly include the intentional or grossly negligent damage or alteration, as well as repeated alteration of the organizational state and the theft of archival material. Filing a criminal complaint according to [Art. 26](https://www.gesetzessammlung.sg.ch/data/147.1/en/art26) of the Act on Records Management and Archiving of April 19, 2011[[11]](#paragraphtext_content_fn_253035_2_11_c) and asserting a claim for damages remain reserved.

1. The competent archive may grant privileged access to the archived materials to the public authority that submitted the documents for archiving, if

a) the archived material is not older than 50 years, and

b) the public authority needs the documents again for administrative purposes.

2. Within the framework of privileged access, the public authority may view the archived materials outside the archive.

3. Privileged access is granted under the condition that

a) the preservation and organizational state of the archived materials is neither impaired nor altered;

b) damage and loss of the archived materials are prevented;

c) access by third parties or affected persons is reasonably possible.

4. The competent archive may impose a time limit on the privileged access and associate it with additional conditions.