On 1 January 2024 begins the implementation of the Regulation on Electronic Archival Activities [full title: Decree on Regulation of Unique Technical and Technological Requirements and Procedures for the Storage and Protection of Archival Material and Documentary Material in Electronic Form (Official Gazette of the RS, no. 107/2021 and 94/2022) – hereinafter referred to as the “Regulation”]. The regulation details on the provisions of the Law on Archival Material and Archival Activity (Official Gazette of the RS, no. 6/2020) when it comes to the storage and archiving of documentary material in electronic form.

The Regulation applies to all creators and holders of archival material and documentary material in electronic form, both in the public and private sectors, with the distinction that the public sector performs electronic archiving in the eArhiv software solution, while the private sector can select a software solution, i.e. information system for reliable electronic storage that they wish to use.

The corresponding application of the relevant regulations that regulate the conditions for the preparation of a document for reliable electronic storage and document formats suitable for long-term storage is determined – until the handing over to the competent archive, namely: Regulation on the Conditions for the Preparation of Documents for Reliable Electronic Storage and Document Formats that are Suitable for Long-term Storage (Official Gazette of the RS, no. 86/2018) and the Rulebook on Conditions for Procedures and Technological Solutions used During Reliable Electronic Document Storage (Official Gazette of the RS, no. 94/2018 and 87/2020).

Creators and holders of documentary material in electronic form are obliged to render a list of categories of archival material and documentary material with retention periods and submit the same in electronic form to the competent public archive via the eUprava portal. The competent archive can be determined in the Decision on Territorial Determining of Archives (Official Gazette of RS, no. 7/1996). For instance, the competent archive for legal entities with seat in the city of Belgrade is the Historical Archives of Belgrade.

Additional obligations of the creator and holder of documentary material in electronic form determined by the Regulation are:

– adoption of internal rules that will be followed in the preparation of documentary material for reliable electronic storage;

– application of protection measures of the selected software solution;

– preparation of documentary material for electronic archiving in accordance with the regulation regulating reliable electronic storage and document formats suitable for long-term storage;

– classification of documentary material in accordance with the list of categories of archival material and documentary material and determination of the term of storage;

– recording information about the creator in the selected software solution;

– determination of metadata about documentary material;

– confirmation of trueness to the original documentary material and the accuracy of the metadata with a qualified electronic signature, i.e. a stamp;

– keeping records of actions undertaken in the preparation process for electronic storage and electronic archiving;

– storage of documentary material in formats suitable for long-term storage;

– maintaining an archive book in electronic form;

– when starting reliable electronic storage and periodically thereafter, attaching a qualified time stamp, i.e. upgrading a qualified electronic signature or seal on the archived documentary material in electronic form until it is handed over to the competent archive in accordance with the regulation governing reliable electronic storage and document formats that are suitable for long-term storage.

Finally, it is necessary to distinguish electronic documentary material in the sense of whether it is permanently stored or not. The creator and holder of documentary material that is permanently stored, after the expiration of the period of 30 years from the date of creation, creates a request in electronic form in the selected software solution and submits it to the competent public archive in the eArhiv. When, on the basis of this request, the competent public archive issues an act on the determination of archival material for cultural heritage, the archival material is handed over to the competent public archive by entering it into the eArhiv.

After the selection of documentary material that is permanently stored, the documentary material that is not permanently stored and whose storage period has expired is extracted to be destroyed. Extraction is done by creating a request in electronic form with listed documentary material whose storage period has expired. The request is submitted to the competent public archive for approval, via the eUprava portal.

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