As we have written in one of our earlier articles (available here), the Rulebook on Archive Book Template (Official Gazette of RS no. 34/2022) has entered into force on March 24, 2022, prescribing the template of the archive book kept by creators and holders of archival and documentary material (“the Rulebook”).

About the archive book

Pursuant to the Rulebook, the archive book is a basic record of all archival and documentary material created in the work of creator, i.e., a general inventory overview of all archival and documentary material from previous years, which creators and holders of archival and documentary material are obliged to keep as of their establishment, as well as documentary material that, for any reason, is in the possession of creator and holder.

The Rulebook prescribes that the archive book may be kept in paper and electronic form, on AK form that is printed at the end of the Rulebook and represents an integral part thereof, which contains the following elements: ordinal number, date of entry, year of creation, content, classification mark, storage period from the category list, number of consents to the category list, volume of documentary material, premises and shelves/devices for storage with location, number and date of minutes, as well as remarks.

How to fill in Section no. 9 of the archive book template

In accordance with the above, Section no. 9 of the archive book template is Premises and shelves/devices for storage with location, in which the information regarding the room, shelf and cabinet where the documentary material is stored is entered, as well as all changes related to the storage, i.e., in case of the electronic documentary material the type of device for storing the data, along with its location, is registered.

In this regard, according to the Opinion of the Ministry of Culture and Information no. 011-00-26/2022-07 dated July 22, 2022, the format in which the documentary material (i.e., files) was created, as well as its total size, are entered in case of certain categories of such material. If the same type of the documentary material was created in different formats, the total size referring to the specific format is entered for each one of them, whereby the formats must be suitable for long-term storage in accordance with the regulations on reliable electronic storage. In case of using the service of a specific document management application, the creator should record the documentary material it created in the archive book, as well as to enter its format and memory capacity.

Additionally, in the respective ninth section of the archive book template, data based on which it can be concluded where certain documentary material is located, i.e., stored is registered, whereby it is necessary to specify the particular type of device and data that are relevant in this sense (e.g., cloud, server, desktop, computer).

This article is to be considered as exclusively informative, with no intention to provide legal advice. If you should need additional information, please contact us directly.