ARHIVSKI VJESNIK 42. (ZAGREB, 1999.)

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C. Gränström, Access to current records and archives, as a tool of democracy, transparency and openness of the government administration, Arh. vjesn., god. 42 (1999), str. 79-92 ve steps are taken. The most important are the World Intellectual property Organisation Copyright Treaty from 1996 and the work going on within the European Union in adopting a Directive on Copyright and related matters. It has been said that these, the Treaty and Draft Directive, show traces of an intense and so far successful lobbying from the part of various rightholder's associations. Previous misgivings have turned to be justified. The balance between rightholder and user has shifted to the benefit of rightholders. The perhaps most striking matter is related to private digital and analogue copying. This will no longer be permitted unless rightholders receive "fair compensation". It has also been suggested that agencies or archival institutions can not make documents available which are protected by copyright. In one - according to my view more extreme but perhaps true -interpretation all incoming letters and similar works to agencies, created by private individuals or organisations, can be protected by copyright and are hence not available without permission from the owner of the copyright. What is right or wrong or what will be the outcome and what will be the consequences regarding the archival sector, is difficult to predict. That copyright rules will be harmonised on an international level is definite. It is predictable that the solutions will be based on the conditions in the digital world rather than in the predigital one and also that the legal exceptions for Libraries and Archives, that we have had up to now in national legislation, will be diminished and replaced by some kind of contractual or licensing solutions. The influence from the information industry, dominated by large American companies, will shift the balance in favour of the rightholder. 3 Practical measures Commitments to openness and transparency must be linked with publicly available rules about access to documents. This has become evident for example within the European Union institutions where the Edinburgh Declaration from 1993 and the Code of Conduct was followed by the treaty of Amsterdam 1997 (article 255), which reads as follows: " 1. Any citizen of the Union, and any natural or legal person residing or having its registered office in a member state, shall have a right of access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, subject to the principles and conditions to be defined in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 3 2. General principles and limits on grounds of public or private interest governing this right of access to documents shall be determined by the Council, acting 86