Archives Law of the People's

Republic of China
Updated: 2020-06-20

Chapter III

Management of Archives

Article 12 State organs, groups, enterprises, public institutions, and

other organizations that are required to create archives in accordance
with the regulations of the state shall establish an accountability
system for archival work and improve their archives management
system in accordance with the law.

Article 13 The following records that are directly created and whose
preservation is of value to the state and society shall be filed as
archives:

(1) Records that reflect the history and main functional activities of
state organs, groups;

(2) Records that reflect the major research and development,

construction, production, operation, and service activities of
state-owned enterprises and public institutions, and records
protecting the rights and interests of the said enterprises and
institutions as well as their employees;
(3) Records that reflect the governance and service activities of
self-governance organizations at the primary level in urban and rural
communities;

(4) Records that reflect government activities, economic, scientific

and technological developments, features of the society and history,
cultural practices and customs, as well as ecological environment in
various historical periods; and

(5) Records that shall be kept as archives pursuant to laws or

administrative regulations.

Records of entities such as non-state-owned enterprises and social

services that fall under the scope of Subparagraph (2) shall be kept by
the entities themselves.

Article 14 Records of an entity that should be kept as archives shall,

in accordance with the relevant regulations of the state, be
regularly transferred to the archives division or archivist of the said
entity for centralized management. No individual may refuse to hand
over such records or keep such records as his own.

Records that are prohibited from being filed as archives pursuant to

the regulations of the state shall not be filed as archives without due
authorization.

Article 15 State organs, groups, enterprises, public institutions, and

other organizations shall regularly transfer their archives to the
archival repositories in accordance with relevant regulations of the
state, and the archival repositories may not refuse to receive.

For archival records transferred in advance with the consent of

archival repositories, the disclosure of government information
contained therein shall be handled by the entity that produced or
kept such information if the stipulated transfer period has not
expired. After the expiration of the transfer period, archival records
involving government information for disclosure shall be handled
pursuant to the regulations on the use of archives.

Article 16 Organs, groups, enterprises, public institutions, and other

organizations shall, in accordance with relevant regulations,
transfer archival records to the relevant entities or archival
repositories in case of organizational changes, revocations, or
mergers.

Article 17 In addition to receiving transferred archival records in

accordance with relevant regulations of the state, the archival
repositories may collect archival records through purchases, deposits,
accepting donations, etc.

Article 18 Archival records that are cultural relics or documents

kept by entities such as museums, libraries, and memorial halls shall
be managed by the said entities pursuant to relevant laws and
administrative regulations.

The archival repositories shall cooperate with the entities as

prescribed in the preceding paragraph in the use of
archives through exchanging extra copies, duplicates, or catalogs,
holding joint exhibitions, and jointly studying, compiling, and
publishing relevant historical materials.

Article 19 The archival repositories and archives divisions of organs,

groups, enterprises, public institutions, and other organizations shall
establish a scientific management system to facilitate the use of
archives, equipping themselves with storage suitable for keeping
archives as well as necessary facilities and equipment in accordance
with relevant regulations of the state to ensure the safety of archives,
and adopting advanced technology to modernize the management of
archives.

The archival repositories, state organs, groups, enterprises, public

institutions, and other organizations shall establish a comprehensive
working mechanism for archives safety, enhance risk management,
and improve their capabilities of responding to emergencies.

Article 20 For archives that involve state secrets, the management,

use, modification in classification, and declassification of such
archives shall be handled in accordance with the provisions of laws
and administrative regulations on guarding state secrets.

Article 21 The national archives administration shall be responsible

for formulating the principles by which the value of archives for
preservation is appraised, the standards for determining the
retention periods, and the procedures and methods for disposal of
archives.
Tampering with, damaging, forging archives, and destructing
archives without authorization are prohibited.

Article 22 Archival records created by entities such

as non-state-owned enterprises and social services or by individuals,
the preservation of which are of great value to the state and society or
which shall be kept confidential, shall be properly kept by their
owners. If the said archival records might be seriously damaged or
subject to risk due to the owners' inability to meet preservation
requirements or any other reason, the archives administration at or
above the provincial level may render help, or take measures to
ensure the integrity and safety of the archival records including
designating a specific archival repository to keep the said archival
records on the owner's behalf after negotiation, and purchasing or
requisitioning the said archival records pursuant to relevant
laws when necessary.

Owners of the archives mentioned in the preceding paragraph may

deposit the archives with or sell the archives to state archival
repositories. It shall be strictly forbidden to sell or give such archives
to foreign individuals or organizations.

Whoever donates important or valuable archives to the state shall be

rewarded by the state archival repositories pursuant to relevant
regulations of the state.

Article 23 The purchase and sale of archives owned by the state

shall be prohibited.
The national archives administration shall formulate specific
measures for transfer of the archives concerning the
transferred assets of state-owned enterprises or public institutions.

The exchange and transfer of duplicates of archives shall be handled

in accordance with relevant regulations of the state.

Article 24 When entrusting such archival services as the

arrangement, deposit, development, and utilization as well as
digitization of archival records, the archival repositories, state organs,
groups, enterprises, public institutions, and other organizations
shall sign an entrustment agreement with eligible archival service
enterprises on the scope, quality, and technical standards of the
services, and shall supervise the entrusted party.

The entrusted party shall establish a management system for archival

services and follow relevant safety and confidentiality regulations to
ensure the safety of archives.

Article 25 The archives owned by the state, the archives specified in

Article 22 of this Law, and their duplicates shall not be transported,
mailed, carried, or transmitted via the Internet out of China without
authorization; where it is necessary to do so, approval shall be
obtained pursuant to relevant regulations of the state.

Article 26 The national archives administration shall establish and

improve a working mechanism for the collection, arrangement,
protection, and use of archives related to emergency responses.
The archival repositories shall improve the study, arrangement,
development, and use of archives related to emergency responses so
as to provide documentary reference and decision support for
handling emergencies.

Chapter IV

Use and Publication of Archives

Article 27 Archival records kept by the state archival repositories at

or above the county level shall be open to the public upon the
expiration of 25 years from the date of their creation. Archival
records in such fields as economy, education, science and technology,
and culture may be disclosed to the public at a time earlier than 25
years. Archival records involving the security or vital interests of the
state or unsuitable for disclosure upon expiration of the prescribed
period may be kept from the public for more than 25 years. The state
encourages and supports other archival repositories to make their
archival records accessible to the public. The specific measures for
the public access of archives shall be formulated by the national
archives administration and submitted to the State Council for
approval.

Article 28 The archival repositories shall regularly publish

catalogues of open archival records on their website or by other
means, continuously improve the rules for the use of archives,
provide new types of services, enhance their service functions,
improve their services, actively promote the use of archives, and
simplify relevant procedures so as to provide convenience for users.

Entities and individuals with legal certificates may use the archives
that are open to the public. If a state archival repository fails to
provide open access as prescribed by regulations, entities and
individuals may file a complaint to the archives administration, and
the archives administration shall promptly investigate and handle the
complaint and inform the complainant of the result.

Where the use of archives affects intellectual property rights or

personal information, the provisions of relevant laws and
administrative regulations shall be complied with.

Article 29 State organs, groups, enterprises, public institutions,

other organizations, and citizens may, according to the need for
economic development, building of national defense, education,
scientific research, and other work, access to restricted archives of
archival repositories and archives in the custody of organs, groups,
enterprises, public institutions, and other organizations pursuant to
relevant regulations of the state.

Article 30 Archival repositories shall be responsible for the review

and approval of disclosure of the archival records in their custody,
jointly with the entities by which the said records were created or
transferred. For archival records that have not been transferred to an
archival repository, the entities that have created them or keep them
shall be responsible for the review and approval of their
disclosure and shall give their suggestion on the matter at the time
of transfer.

Article 31 Entities and individuals that have transferred, donated, or

deposited archival records to archival repositories may enjoy priority
in the use of said archival records and may propose restrictions of use
as to the parts that are not suitable for public access. The archival
repositories shall render support and facilitation accordingly.

Article 32 State-owned archival records may only be released by the

archival repositories or relevant institutions authorized by the state;
no entity or individual shall have the right to release such archives
without permission of the archival repositories or relevant
institutions. The owners of the archival records created by entities
including non-state-owned enterprises and social service agencies, as
well as individuals, shall have the right to release said records.

The release of archives shall be in compliance with relevant laws and

administrative regulations, and shall not undermine national security
and interests or infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of
others.

Article 33 The archival repositories shall, based on their own

situations, support and facilitate state organs in formulating laws,
regulations, and policies, as well as in conducting research on
relevant issues.

The archival repositories shall have researchers to enhance the study

and arrangement of archival records, organize the compilation and
publication of archival records in a planned way, and distribute the
publications within a certain scopes.

Archival researchers shall follow the rules of archival management

when studying and arranging the archives.

Article 34 The state encourages the archival repositories to make

use of their archival records by theme exhibitions, public lectures,
and publicity, to educate the people on patriotism, collectivism, and
socialism with Chinese characteristics, carry on and develop the
fine traditional Chinese culture, inherit the revolutionary culture,
nurture advanced socialist culture, and to enhance cultural
confidence as well as promote the core socialism values.