Archiving and Public Archives Act (AArch) (LArch)

1 This Law governs the archiving of documents as well as the use of public archives and the organization of the State Archives.

2 Archiving contributes to legal certainty as well as to the continuous and rational management of public bodies' documents. In particular, it creates the necessary conditions for transparency and scientific research.

This law governs the archiving of documents

a) of the Canton;

b) of the local authorities;

c) of other institutions and corporations under cantonal and communal public law;

d) of natural and legal persons and other bodies entrusted with tasks of public interest.

1. For the purposes of this Law, documents include all recorded information, regardless of its medium, that has been collected or produced in the performance of public duties, as well as all auxiliary means and complementary data necessary for the understanding and use of such information.

2. Archives are considered to be documents preserved by the State Archive or autonomously managed by other institutions or by other bodies and services in accordance with the principles of this Law.

3. Documents that possess legal, political, administrative, economic, social, and cultural importance or that have great informational potential are deemed to have archival value.

1 Archiving of cantonal documents falls under the purview of the State Archives.

2 Unless federal law provides otherwise, the archiving of cantonal documents resulting from the execution of federal tasks falls under the purview of the Canton, and for the Canton, the State Archives.

3 Judicial authorities regulate the archiving of their respective documents in accordance with the principles of this Act; they offer to transfer them to the State Archives if they are unable to manage them independently.

4 The Council of State designates, by regulation, the institutions and corporations under cantonal public law that handle the archiving of their own documents in accordance with the principles of this Act.

5 Local authorities, other bodies, and natural and legal persons entrusted with tasks of public interest independently manage the archiving of their documents in accordance with the principles of this Act.

Retention, offer of transfer and

1 The organs and services that process documents in the exercise of their public duty define the methods and terms of conservation based on objective needs for use, respecting the terms defined in federal and cantonal laws.

2 They manage documents in an orderly, systematic, and rational manner, guaranteeing in particular the availability, integrity, protection, and security of data. They also adopt the necessary regulations and organizational measures.

3 Provided they are not competent for their archiving, public and private entities subject to this law must offer to the competent archival institution the documents they no longer use permanently or that are no longer useful for current activity.

4 Documents to be offered cannot be destroyed without the authorization of the competent archival institution.

5 The provisions of the Law on the Protection of Personal Data of March 9, 1987, remain reserved.

Inalienability and Imprescriptibility

1 Public archives are inalienable.

2 Third parties cannot acquire the archives, even by prescription.

1 Public archives are accessible to everyone after the expiration of a 30-year protection period, subject to Articles 9, 10, and 11.

2 Documents already accessible to the public before their transfer to an archival institution remain accessible thereafter.

3 Consultation is free of charge. For additional services, such as reproductions and specific research, costs are invoiced based on the time and material expended, according to the fees set by the competent archival institutions.

The protection period generally begins on the date of the last document in a case file or file.

Extension of protection period

for personal data

1 Archives classified by personal names and containing personal data meriting particular protection are subject to a protection period of 50 years, unless the data subject has authorized their consultation.

2 The extended protection period expires three years after the death of the data subject. Article 10 remains reserved.

1. After hearing the service that deposited its documents, the competent archival institution may deny or limit the consultation of archives or documents for a limited duration after the expiry of the protection period, if required by the protection of a preponderant public or private interest worthy of protection.

2. The competent archival institution maintains a publicly accessible list of archives for which consultation has been limited and indicates the established duration of such restrictions.

3. It may provide for other restrictions to protect the integrity of archives and documents.

1 Services that have submitted their documents may, even before the expiry of the protection periods pursuant to Articles 7 or 9 paragraph 1, allow the competent archives institution to make them accessible to the public or authorize individual persons to consult them, provided that, in both cases, there is no objection from

a) any legal provision, nor

b) any overriding public or private interest worthy of protection.

2 Authorization for consultation must be subject to duties or conditions if the data protection requirements of the persons concerned or other objective reasons justify it; in particular, it may be stipulated that personal data be anonymized.

1 The right of data subjects to obtain information and consult archives regarding their data is governed by the Personal Data Protection Act of March 9, 1987. The limitation of these rights is decided by the services that transfer their documents.

2 The competent archival institution may also defer or limit the disclosure of information if it is incompatible with rational administrative management, as it entails an excessive and disproportionate administrative burden and the applicant does not intend to bear the costs.

3 Data subjects cannot demand the destruction or rectification of data; they can only request that its contested nature or inaccuracy be annotated.

Consultation by services that have

1 Services that have deposited their documents may consult them even during the protection period.

2 In the case of personal data, such services may, during the protection period, consult the documents they have deposited if they need them

a) as means of proof;

b) for legislative or jurisprudential purposes;

c) for evaluation for statistical purposes; or

d) to guarantee the data subject the exercise of their rights pursuant to the Personal Data Protection Act of 9 March 1987.

3 Limitations provided for by other legal provisions are reserved.

4 Archives can no longer be modified.

1 Consultation of bequests or deposits by natural or legal persons is governed by the provisions of the deeds of assignment.

2 In the absence of such provisions, those relating to public archives shall apply.

1. The commercial use of archives requires authorization, which may be subject to charges and conditions.

2. Authorization must be preceded by the conclusion of a contract that governs the extent of the use and the possible participation in profits by the interested public body.

3. The Council of State shall regulate the conditions, procedure, and competencies for the authorization and the conclusion of the contract relating to the commercial use of archives.

The State Archive is the central archival institution for the cantonal bodies and services and, as a center of expertise, constitutes the reference and coordination authority of the Canton in archival matters.

1 The State Archives promotes archival science by providing information and collaborating with public and private authorities, services, and organizations active in this field.

2 It ensures that archives are preserved securely and appropriately, makes them accessible through their rearrangement and the preparation of search tools, and promotes their enhancement.

3 In addition to the Canton's archives, it undertakes to safeguard archives and legacies of private or public law individuals that are of cantonal importance. For the purpose of acquiring said archives, it may enter into contracts.

4 It issues its own regulations regarding the use of documents.

Supervision and Consulting

1 The State Archives shall ensure that the principles of this Law are respected; to this end, it may examine and inspect the archives of bodies and services required to offer their documents and those that autonomously handle archiving.

2 It offers its advice regarding the organisation, management, preservation, and transfer of documents.

3 It issues instructions concerning the management, preservation, and transfer of documents, addressed to the bodies and services required to offer their documents.

4 The competent bodies of the Canton shall consult the State Archives before implementing projects for computerised document management.

Determination of archival value, transfer

1 The State Archives determine the archival value of documents, in collaboration with the interested cantonal bodies and services.

**2 Documents whose archival value has been ascertained must be transferred to the State Archives by the bodies and services obliged to offer them according to Art. 5 para. 3.**

**3 The State Archives establish the archival value of documents archived autonomously by the services, in collaboration with those services.**

**4 The State Archives provisionally preserve documents considered to be without archival value in case of doubt or disagreement with the service obliged to offer them.**

**5 The State Archives do not destroy any document without the authorization of the service that transferred it.**

**6 Provisions of special law that foresee the preservation of documents remain reserved.**

The State Archives manages the legal deposit of printed materials intended for the public, art graphics, reproductions of images or sounds on magnetic tape or other media, produced by a printer, publisher, or author with their seat or domicile in the Canton.

1 The State Archives, upon request, may provide for the archiving of documents belonging to bodies and individuals who independently manage their archiving, by stipulating collaboration contracts that take into account the cost of the service.

2 Within the limits of its competence, it may provide particular services to third parties, namely restoration and conservation work, as well as consultancy in information management. These services are agreed upon in private law contracts.

Two copies of all works and all publications that are based entirely or partially on documents preserved at the State Archives must be delivered free of charge to the latter by their authors.

In its regulations, the State Archives may provide for a prohibition of access for persons who have seriously or repeatedly violated the provisions of this Law, its implementing regulations, or the prescriptions concerning the use of documents.

1 Appeals against decisions of the State Archives and local authorities that autonomously manage the archiving of their documents may be lodged with the Council of State. Appeals against decisions of the Council of State may be lodged with the Cantonal Administrative Court.

2 Appeals against decisions of cantonal public law institutions and corporations that autonomously manage the archiving of their documents may be lodged with the Cantonal Administrative Court.

3 Appeals against decisions of judicial authorities that manage the archiving of their respective documents may be lodged with the Magistracy Appeals Commission.

4 The Cantonal Administrative Court shall rule as sole instance on disputes between private individuals and the bodies and persons referred to in Article 2 letter d.

5 In the absence of specific provisions in this law, the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Law of 24 September 2013 shall apply to the procedure. [1]

[1] Para. amended by Law of 24.9.2013; in force since 1.3.2014 - BU 2013, 470.

1 Anyone who intentionally discloses information originating from archives subject to a protection period or otherwise expressly withheld from publication shall be punished with a fine of up to CHF 10,000.

2 The Cantonal Law on Procedure for Contraventions of 20 April 2010 is applicable.

3 Provisions of special law are reserved.

Disciplinary sanctions

With regard to members of an authority and public employees who, in the exercise of their respective functions, fail to comply with the principles of this Law, the disciplinary sanctions provided for by the special law applicable to individual public archives are reserved.

The State Council issues the implementing provisions.

Referendum and

Entry into force

1 Upon expiry of the time limits for exercising the right of referendum, this law, with its appendix, shall be published in the Official Bulletin of Laws and Executive Acts.

2 The Council of State shall determine its entry into force. [2]

Published in OB 2012, 123.

[2] Entry into force: 1 June 2012 - OB 2012, 123, 147.