NATIONAL ARCHIVES ACT 2003

National Archives LAWS OF MALAYSIA REPRINT Act 629 NATIONAL ARCHIVES ACT 2003 Incorporating all amendments up to 1 January 2006 PUBLISHED BY THE COMMISSIONER OF LAW REVISION, MALAYSIA UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE REVISION OF LAWS ACT 1968 IN COLLABORATION WITH PERCETAKAN NASIONAL MALAYSIA BHD 2006 1 2 NATIONAL ARCHIVES ACT 2003 Date of Royal Assent ... ... ... … … Date of publication in the Gazette … … 29 July 2003 7 August 2003 PREVIOUS REPRINT First Reprint ... ... ... ... ... 2004 3 LAWS OF MALAYSIA Act 629 NATIONAL ARCHIVES ACT 2003 ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS PART I PRELIMINARY Section 1. Short title, application and commencement 2. Interpretation 3. Declaration of federal status PART II NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND DIRECTOR GENERAL 4. Establishment of National Archives 5. Appointment of Director General 6. Appointment of officers 7. Functions of the Director General 8. Power of review 9. Power to delegate 10. Appointment of Resource Persons PART III ADVISORY BOARD 11. Establishment of Board 12. Functions of Board 13. Authority to depart from advice of Board 14. Membership of Board 4 Laws of Malaysia ACT 629 Section 15. Secretary 16. Tenure of office 17. Revocation of appointment and resignation of members 18. Vacation of office 19. Filling of vacancies 20. Remuneration or allowance 21. Meetings of Board 22. Board may invite others to meetings 23. Minutes 24. Procedure PART IV MANAGEMENT OF RECORDS 25. Prohibition against destruction of public records 26. Disposal of public records 27. Records disposal schedule 28. Transfer of public records to National Archives 29. Public records to be surrendered on demand 30. Custody and control of public records of a defunct public office 31. Acquisition of non-public records 32. Deposit of records 33. Establishment of Record Centres and Agency Record Centres 34. Establishment of Limbo Record Centres 35. Return of public records PART V ADMINISTRATION OF ARCHIVES 36. Processing and preservation of public archives 37. Access to public archives 38. Access to classified records 39. Prohibition against reproduction and publication of public archives National Archives 5 PART VI ESTABLISHMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF MINISTERIAL ARCHIVES AND MEMORIAL ARCHIVES Section 40. Establishment of ministerial archives and memorial archives 41. Materials to be deposited in ministerial archives and memorial archives PART VII GENERAL 42. Legal validity of photographic copies and extracts 43. Authentication of photographic copies and extracts 44. Prohibition against export 45. Regulations 46. Annual report 47. Repeal and saving PART VIII STATE ARCHIVES 48. Establishment of State Archives 6 Laws of Malaysia ACT 629 National Archives 7 LAWS OF MALAYSIA Act 629 NATIONAL ARCHIVES ACT 2003 An Act to provide for the creation, acquisition, custody, preservation, use and management of public archives and public records; and for other matters connected therewith. [10 October 2003, P.U. (B) 300/2003] ENACTED by the Parliament of Malaysia as follows: PART I PRELIMINARY Short title, application and commencement 1. (1) This Act may be cited as the National Archives Act 2003. (2) This Act shall apply— (a) throughout Peninsular Malaysia and the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya; (b) throughout the States of Sabah and Sarawak but only in respect of public records of the Government which come into existence on or after *Malaysia Day. (3) This Act shall come into operation on a date to be appointed by the Minister by notification in the Gazette. (4) Except as otherwise expressly provided by this Act, the provisions of this Act do not affect any provision relating to records made by or under any other written law. *NOTE—Malaysia Day is the day on which the Malaysia Act 1963 [Act No. 26/1963] came into force, i.e. 16 September 1963—see section 2 of Act No. 26/1963. 8 Laws of Malaysia ACT 629 Interpretation 2. (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires— “archives” means records which are preserved for their permanent and enduring national or historical value or both; “public archives” means— (a) public records— (i) which are specified by the Director General as being of permanent and enduring national or historical value or both; and (ii) which have been transferred to the National Archives or such other place as the Director General may from time to time direct; and (b) any private records or other material which are specified by the Director General as being of permanent and enduring national or historical value or both acquired for the National Archives by the Director General; “memorial archives” means an institution operated by the National Archives to house, conserve and exhibit any historical materials to commemorate an event or a person or other aspects of history and the archives housed therein; “ministerial archives” means materials pertaining to any Ministers of the Federal Government and preserved for purposes of research and understanding the policies and actions that had been implemented; “National Archives” means the National Archives of Malaysia established under section 4; “reproduction” means an exact copy of a record in content and form but not necessarily in size and appearance; “Director General” means the Director General of National Archives appointed under section 5; “Board” means the Advisory Board established under section 11; National Archives 9 “proper officer” means an archivist who performs duties on behalf of the Director General in the management of records and administration of archives; “public office” means an office of the Federal Government or the Government of any State or an office of any local authority, statutory authority or Government enterprise; “public officer” means a person holding office or employment in any of the public services; “disposal” means the manner of managing the segregation of records with a view to destruction, transfer or otherwise; “enlargement” means a reproduction larger than the original or the interim which is used to make the reproduction; “preservation” means the totality of processes and operations involved in the physical protection of public records and archives against damage or deterioration and in the restoration or repair of such records and archives; “acquisition” means to acquire by way of transfer, purchase, donation, bequest, gift or otherwise; “destruction” means the act of destroying or eliminating any type of records by any means; “public service” means— (a) any of the public services referred to in Article 132 of the Federal Constitution; (b) the service of any local authority; and (c) the service of any statutory authority exercising powers vested in it by Federal or State law; “Government enterprise” means any enterprise the capital of which wholly or partially originates from the Federal Government or the Government of any State; “statutory authority” means any statutory body incorporated by any written law for the purposes of the Federal Government or the Government of any State; 10 Laws of Malaysia ACT 629 “Record Centre” means a repository, operated by National Archives for the purpose of storing, processing and servicing non-current records pending their ultimate disposal; “Agency Record Centre” means a record centre operated by a non-archival agency of the Government and in which the Government’s records are maintained and preserved; “Limbo Record Centre” means a building designed and constructed for the low-cost storage, maintenance and communication of semi-current records pending their ultimate disposal; “microfilm recording” means a reproduction of a record on film or other material which is a product of photography or any similar process and is in general not legible to the naked eye; “records” means materials in written or other form setting out facts or events or otherwise recording information and includes papers, documents, registers, printed materials, books, maps, plans, drawings, photographs, microfilms, cinematograph films, sound recordings, electronically produced records regardless of physical form or characteristics and any copy thereof; “public records” means records officially received or produced by any public office for the conduct of its affairs or by any public officer or employee of a public office in the course of his official duties and includes the records of any Government enterprise and also includes all records which, on the coming into operation of this Act, are in the custody or under the control of the National Archives of Malaysia established under the National Archives Act 1966 [Act 511]; “ministerial records” means records pertaining to any Ministers of the Federal Government relating to their tenure in office, events in their official and personal lives; “private records” means records of individuals and records of non-governmental agencies, institutions and organizations; “classified records” means public records which are classified as official secret within the meaning of the Official Secrets Act 1972 [Act 88]; “photographic copy” means any copy of a record made by reprography; National Archives 11 “concluded”, in relation to a public record, means no further action is required to be taken on that record. (2) For the purposes of this Act, records shall be treated as being in the custody or under the control of the National Archives if the records are in its possession by virtue of sections 28, 29, 30 and 31 or if the National Archives has power to give directions as to their custody. (3) Where records which are created at different dates are for administrative purposes kept together in one file or other assembly, all the records in that file or other assembly shall be treated for the purposes of this Act as having been created when the latest of those records was created. Declaration of federal status 3. (1) All archives which are in the custody or under the control of the National Archives on or after the coming into operation of this Act are declared to be federal archives. (2) All public records in the custody or under the control of a public office on or after the coming into operation of this Act are declared to be federal public records. (3) The Minister may, from time to time, on the advice of the Director General, by order published in the Gazette, declare any archives or records, as the case may be, to be federal archives or federal records. PART II NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND DIRECTOR GENERAL Establishment of National Archives 4. There shall be established a National Archives of Malaysia, which is declared to be a federal archives, for the purpose of providing guidelines in the creation, acquisition, storage and preservation of records and providing facilities for reference, research or other purposes. 12 Laws of Malaysia ACT 629 Appointment of Director General 5. (1) The Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall appoint a Director General for the purpose of carrying out the powers and functions assigned to the Director General under this Act. (2) The appointment of the Director General shall be notified in the Gazette. (3) The Director General shall have an official seal for the authentication of public archives required for the purposes of his powers and functions under this Act. Appointment of officers 6. (1) The Minister may, from time to time, appoint such officers as are necessary to assist the Director General in the performance of his functions and the exercise of his powers under this Act. (2) All officers appointed under subsection (1) shall be subject to the supervision, direction and control of the Director General. (3) An officer may perform the functions and exercise all the powers conferred upon the Director General under this Act. Functions of the Director General 7. The functions of the Director General are as follows: (a) to examine records which are in the c