Concòrdia Proposes Amendments for Open Access and Digital Preservation in Archives Bill

The parliamentary group Concòrdia has submitted a series of amendments to the forthcoming Archives and Documentary Heritage Bill, aiming to enhance administrative transparency and secure the long-term preservation of digital public records.

Among the proposals, Concòrdia calls for open access to all public documents not subject to confidentiality clauses, rather than limiting availability to only those deemed most significant. The group advocates integrating into the Archives System all documentation produced by public institutions and bodies, including public and parapublic companies, as well as parish archives. This step, it argues, would help enrich and safeguard the country's documentary heritage.

Any restrictions on access must be properly justified in line with existing rules on transparency, public information access, and personal data protection. To strengthen citizens' rights, the amendments require public disclosure of procedures, deadlines, and requirements for consulting documentary heritage.

For private documentary holdings, researchers should gain access provided they demonstrate a research purpose and data protection is ensured. Public subsidies to owners of such holdings would be conditional on establishing consultation regimes for investigators.

On digital preservation, Concòrdia warns that digitisation alone does not ensure endurance against data loss. It proposes specific measures to maintain documents' integrity, authenticity, availability, and recoverability. These include mandatory protocols for periodic digital migration, backup systems, and redundant storage to counter risks from technological obsolescence, data loss, or cybersecurity incidents. The competent ministry would promote tools and technical support for public administrations to implement them.

Finally, to prevent subjective interpretations, the group seeks a clearer definition of 'patrimonial value', covering all documents capable of providing legal, historical, or testimonial information.