A meeting of the board of the Department for Archives and Records Management of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus

On November 30, 2021, the board of the Department for Archives and Records Management of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus held a meeting to discuss the following issues:

On the research work in 2017-2021;

On the work of the Department for affixing apostille and state archives in issuing information documents for social and legal requests in 2021;

On the work on the implementation by the central archival institutions of the Directive of the President of the Republic of Belarus of March 11, 2004 No. 1 “On measures to strengthen public security and discipline”.

On the first question, the Board noted that during 2017-2021 the Belarusian Research Institute of Records Management and Archival Studies (BelNIIDAD) and the Belarusian Research Center for Electronic Records (BelNITsED) developed 54 research topics (34 topics – BelNIIDAD; 20 topics – BelNITsED). BelNIIDAD is characterized by theoretical and practical research in the field of archives, records management and archaeography; and BelNITsED has a predominantly applied orientation in research work.

The Board drew attention that one of the key elements of research activity is the implementation of research results into practice. As part of this direction, the research institutions prepare draft normative legal acts, state standards, procedural guidelines for scientific research, conduct practical seminars, etc.

The Board pointed out that research and development topics require a better coverage of the needs of the archive industry and the formation of promising areas of research work, taking into account the development of digital transformation of the industry.

The Board examined the issues related to the commercialization of the results of scientific research. It was noted that there had been no cases of violation of the terms of commercialization in the practice of research institutions in the period under review.

The Board drew attention of BelNIIDAD and BelNITsED to the urgency of more active cooperation with state archives and branch laboratories in the field of research work at all stages of its implementation, first of all, in identifying the problem areas that cause difficulties in the work of archival institutions and require scientific and methodological support.

On the second question, the Board noted that in January-October 2021 the state archives handled 4018 applications of citizens to issue archival information (archival copy, archival extract, information letter) for inquiries of social and legal nature.

4018 administrative decisions were made on the received applications, of which 3891 on the execution of an administrative procedure, and 127 on the refusal to accept the application for the execution of an administrative procedure on the grounds stipulated by the Law of the Republic of Belarus of October 28, 2008 № 433-З “On the basics of administrative procedures”.

In the indicated period, the employees of the Department for Archives and Records Management affixed 160 apostilles on the documents coming from the state archives of the Republic of Belarus.

The Board pointed out to the heads of the state archival institutions the necessity to carry out continuous work among users to promote the activities of the Portal for rating assessment of the quality of services provided by organizations of the Republic of Belarus (http://xn--7sbgfh2alwzdhpc0c.xn--90ais/RatingPortal).

On the third question, the Board analyzed the work on implementation by the central archival institutions of the Directive of the President of the Republic of Belarus of March 11, 2004 No. 1 “On measures to strengthen public security and discipline”.

It was noted that in 2021 the main efforts in this area were aimed at: implementation of measures to improve the culture of safety in everyday life; unconditional compliance with the mandatory requirements of technical regulations in the field of labor protection; implementation of a set of measures to prevent fires and deaths in fires; development of law-abiding behavior, a healthy lifestyle, skills to ensure personal and property safety of employees; implementation of measures aimed at preventing the spread of diseases caused by a viral infection (COVID-19).

In the past period of 2021, no cases of occupational injuries were recorded in the archival institutions. The management of the archival institutions implemented measures aimed at improving labor discipline and the efficiency of work with personnel.

The organizational and technical preparation of the archival institutions for the autumn-winter period of 2021/2022 was performed in due time.

As part of the implementation of the Comprehensive Action Plan to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection in the Republic of Belarus, necessary measures have been taken in archival institutions to provide team members with personal protective equipment (masks) and antiseptic agents, organize regular wet cleaning of the premises using disinfectants, establish individual working hours (in order to prevent mass presence in public transport during rush hour), inform and organize vaccination of employees, etc.

The Board also approved the appointment of Olga B. Olesyuk as head of the department of information, publication and use of documents at the National Historical Archives of Belarus in Grodno and Natalia F. Kirilenkova as head of the digitization department at the National Technical Laboratory for Security Microfilming.