Department for Archives and Records Management of the Justice Ministry held a board meeting 31 July 2013
On 31 July 2013 the Department for Archives and Records Management of the Justice Ministry of the Republic of Belarus held a board meeting to discuss the issues of handling inquiries from citizens and legal entities at the state archive institutions in the first half of 2013; the results of work of the Department for Archives and Records Management in the first half of 2013; preparation and procedures for the use of the reporting form “Data on the condition and amount of records of the National Archival Holdings of the Republic of Belarus held in temporary storage in institutions – sources of acquisition for state archives”.
On the first issue, the department board noted that in the first half of 2013 the work of archive institutions in handling inquiries from citizens and legal entities and the issue of certificates to them was organised and conducted in accordance with the procedure defined by the Law of the Republic of Belarus of 18 July 2011 “On Petitions from Citizens and Legal Entities”, Edict No 498 of the President of the Republic of Belarus of 15 October 2007 “On Additional Measures for Processing Petitions from Citizens and Legal Entities”, and Directive No 2 of the President of the Republic of Belarus of 27 December 2006 “On Measures for Further Debureaucratization of the State Apparatus”.
The Department and the structural divisions of archives and records management of the main justice boards at the Regional (and Minsk City) Executive Committees exercise permanent control over the law observance in handling inquiries from citizens and legal persons at the state archive institutions. A quarterly analytical information has been submitted to the Department on Legal Regulation of State Social Activity and to the Ministry of Justice’s special work and records management division.
Much attention in the first half of 2013 was paid to the observance of the time for handling citizens’ inquiries, the organisation of personal visits, the information contents of internet resources and information stands. Additionally, the state archives have been informing the interested public on the composition and contents of the archives by means of the mass media.
The department board recommended to the heads of state archive institutions to exercise permanent control over the observance of Belarusian legislation in work with petitions submitted by citizens and legal entities.
On the second issue it was noted that the Department conducted activities in the first half of 2013 in accordance with the Plan of Actions for 2013, the instructions of the Presidential Administration, the Government and the Ministry of Justice. The tasks scheduled for the first half of 2013 have been fulfilled. Additionally, a big amount of extra-budget work have been completed.
Work continued on the organisational and financial provision of the State Programme “Archives of Belarus” for 2011-2015. Based on the results of the State Programme achieved in 2012, an analytical report has been submitted to the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus, approved by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economics. As part of the preparation of the national budget for 2014, the need for financial resources was defined at the central archive institutions for the implementation of the State Programme, the required calculations and substantiation reports have been prepared, the passport for the State Programme has been drawn up.
In May 2013 the Department for Archives and Records Management of the Republic of Belarus and the Federal Archival Agency of the Russian Federation held a joint board meeting. An annual three-party meeting of the heads of archive services and state archive institutions of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine was held on 29-30 May 2013. An international conference was held within the frames of the meeting entitled “Information Technologies in Archive Business and Records Management”.
On the third issue, the Department has developed the following report forms: “Data on the condition and amount of permanent records (administrative records, household books, notary records) and personnel records held in temporary storage in government agencies and other institutions”, “Data on the condition and amount of scientific-technical permanent records held in temporary storage in institutions”, “Data on the condition and amount of audio-visual records in temporary storage in institutions”, “Data on the condition and amount of electronic records and the archive copies of permanent information resources held in temporary storage in government agencies and other institutions” and the guidelines for their completion that have been approved by the archives and RM divisions at the justice boards of the regional executive committees and the state archives and become effective since the report of 2014 by order of the Department’s director No 31 of 27 July 2013.