Access to archives. Implementation of Recommendation No. R (2000) 13 of the Committee of Ministers to Member States on a European policy on access to archives

The Summary Report on the Implementation of Recommendation No. R (2000) 13 of the Committee of Ministers to Member States on a European policy on access to archives details if and how the Recommendation is represented in national legislations and institutional policies on the one hand, and followed in practice on the other. While "national legislation in most countries now complies with the Recommendation entirely," the researchers noted that "access conditions suggest that this is not always the lived practice." Comparing the surveys conducted 20 years apart, the team found that the "official secrecy and classified data" as the main challenge in 2003-2004 has by now been replaced by the tension between transparency and privacy. "Or in other words: while in the early 2000s laws and legal practices were often designed to protect state interests against citizens, today laws focus more on safeguarding citizens’ rights." In general, access to archives improved considerably in the past 20 years; a number of routines in discriminating users and unlawfully blocking access, however, proved lasting.