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 As the debate about public access is going on and as it has become a very important issue within the European Union, the differences in cultural and philosophical background, present-day attitudes and trends are becoming acute. There is a marked difference between the culture of open government in some member states and the more closed culture in other member states. The implementation of the articles about access in the Amsterdam treaty, that is access to documents within the EU institutions, and also the discussions in the Green Paper on Public Sector Information: A key resource for Europe, that is to documents within the member states, are important factors and can be seen as main steps in this process. 2 Access to official documents 2.1 Official document A condition for the implementation of the right of access must be that the concept of an official document is defined and regulated in legislation. Access to documents is looked upon differently from country to country. Thus, the legal solutions differ. It can on a general level be argued that two systems can be distinguished. In some countries there is a difference between records and archives. Records become archives when transferred to archival institutions. In these cases, access to current records is often restricted. Public access is limited to archives of a certain age, provided they are delivered to an archival institution. Access rights are not a part of a system of controlling the Government and supplying the facts to the public debate on contemporary issues. It is meant to supply historians and other professionals with primary sources in their search for knowledge of the past. In this system, you usually will have an archives act governing access to these archival records. In the other group of states, citizens are usually granted a legal right of access not just into the archives already transferred to archival institutions but also access to current records/official documents, still kept by the authorities. In these states, it is claimed that this access is a part of the natural control of the Government and constitute a natural way of feeding and stimulating the debate. The public can take part in the debate with more insight and many misunderstandings will be avoided or rectified. The confidence of the public towards a good Government administration will be greater if there is openness and transparency. In many of these countries, there is no difference between archives and records/documents. It can be said that the trend today in Europe is developing in this direction. Regardless of what legal system is used in a country, the issue of what constitutes a document has become more difficult and important. Before the introduction of computers, documents were generally information on paper, which an agency created themselves, such as minutes, copies of outgoing letters, and incoming informa83