Basic facts about The Archives Yugoslavia

Basic facts about the Archives of Serbia and Montenegro

Establishment, status and field of competence

The Archives of Serbia and Montenegro has existed under that style as an institution that continued to transact the affairs of the Yugoslav Archives since April 2003 when the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro was formed.

The first initiative to establish the Archives of the Yugoslav state formed in 1918 and to pass a law to regulate its competences and activities was launched by the Committee of the State Archives in Belgrade (currently the Archives of Serbia) in 1922.

The preparation and work to complete the law project lasted until 1935 but the draft law was not adopted and the establishment of the Archives remained just an idea.

Following the Second World War, namely in 1950 the General Law on State Archives was enacted. This Law established the Archives under the name STATE ARCHIVES OF THE FEDERAL PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA. Since then the Archives has changed its name several times.

The direct implementation of the federal regulations and the General Law on State Archives were particularly important for the systematic gathering of archival material. The State Archives of the FPRY, with its headquarters in Belgrade, operated under the supervision of the Ministry of Science and Culture of the Government of FPRY, namely the Science and Culture Council of the Government of FPRY and in 1953 as an independent federal authority called the STATE ARCHIVES OF FPRY. The General Law on State Archives regulated not only the establishment of the State Archives of FPRY but also the State Archives of the People's Republics and other archives across the country.

In 1964 the Federal Assembly adopted the Law on the Archives of Federal Republic Of Yugoslavia which stipulated that the ARCHIVES OF YUGOSLAVIA was to: register, collect, classify, process, maintain, publish as necessary and make available to users archival material of special interest to the federation.

In 1964 the Federal Assembly passed the Law on the Yugoslav Archives. From then onwards, the Archives was called the Yugoslav Archives. The Law stipulated that the Archives: "shall register, gather, sort out, process, keep, publish if necessary and make available for use archival records of particular interest to the Federation". The archival records of particular interest were the archival records of the central public authorities, the central institutions and the central bodies of social-political and other organizations of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia; the archival records of the bodies of the Federation; organizations set up to perform duties falling within the Federation's competences; the federal authorities; the socio-political and other organizations as well as the archival records of civil legal persons and individuals whose activity was of general Yugoslav interest. Under this law, the Yugoslav Archives had the status of an institution in the field of culture, and the supervision over the legality of its activities was carried out by the competent federal authority.

The new Law on the Yugoslav Archives was passed in 1973 and, in the field of status issues, it stipulated that the Yugoslav Archives would have the status of an institution established in order to carry out duties of interest to the performance of functions of the Federation bodies. The supervision over the legality of the activities of the Yugoslav Archives was carried out by the Federal Secretariat for Justice and General Administration. With regard to the rights and duties of the Archives relative to its archival materials, the Law stipulated that the Archives: "shall collect, keep, sort out, process, maintain, publish and make available for use archival records produced by the central public authorities and institutions, central bodies of the political parties and other organizations and professional and other associations of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the course of their activities; register, select, collect, sort out, process, maintain, keep, publish and make available for use archival records produced by the Federation bodies and the institutions set up to perform duties of interest for the discharge of the functions of the Federation bodies as well as the central bodies of the socio-political and other organizations and citizens' associations at the Federation level".

The Law Amending the Law on the Yugoslav Archives, passed in 1976, stipulated that the supervision over the Archives' legality of operations was to be carried out by the Federal Science and Culture Committee.

Under the Law on the Structure and Remit of the Federal Agencies of Government Administration and Federal Organizations, adopted by the SFRY Assembly in 1978, the Yugoslav Archives acquired the status of a federal organization and became a part of the federal administration and as a federal agency of government administration carried out administrative, professional and other duties within the ambit of the rights and duties of the Federation subject to its scope of activity laid down by the above mentioned Law.

In 1986 the Assembly of SFRY passed a Law on the Archival Records of the Federation that regulated the status of the Yugoslav Archives accurately and comprehensively (as a federal organization) and the issues of what was to be considered the Federation's archival records, which entities were to produce the Federation's archival records; what their rights and duties were concerning these archival material; what the rights and duties of the Yugoslav Archives were with regard to these entities, including the duty to employ a professional working methodology in handling archival materials paying attention to own and global experience gained to date and the achievements in the field of science and practice of records control.

Following the promulgation of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Constitutional Law for the Implementation of the FRY Constitution in 1992, in March 1998, in keeping with the time schedule agreed for the harmonization of the SFRY regulations with the FRY Constitution, the Law on Archival Records of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was passed. Under that Law and the relevant secondary legislation enacted by the Federal Government the Archives resumed its activities as an organization of federal administration with the competences based, for the most part, on the regulations in force until that date.

The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia ceased to exist in February 2003 when the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro was formed. Under the Law on the Implementation of the Constitutional Charter of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro of 4 February 2003, the Yugoslav Archives continued to transact its affairs pending the definition of its final status in accordance with the federal law and other federal regulations that had governed its activities until that date.

The name ARCHIVES OF SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO was given by the Decree on the Establishment of Ministries, Organizations and Services of the Council of Ministers adopted on 10 June 2003. Under that Decree, the Archives, as a state union organization, is to perform the following duties: register, gather, take over, sort out, process, publish, study, protect and make available for use archival records and registered documents generated by the producers of archival records in Serbia and Montenegro, notably: the Parliament of Serbia and Montenegro; the President of Serbia and Montenegro; the Council of Ministers; the Court of Serbia and Montenegro; the Ministries and other administrative bodies of the Council of Ministers; as well as supervise their work with archival records and registered documents at their disposition; carry out duties with respect to the archival records and registered documents produced by the central public bodies and organizations, institutions and other public institutions, political and other organizations, communities, associations and other entities of the Yugoslav state from its formation in 1918 all the way through 2003; engage in international cooperation between archivists and in the operations conducive to the application of the Agreement on the Issues of Succession, Annex "D" Archives, with respect to the "State Archives of the SFRY".

Organizational development

The internal structure of the Archives of Serbia and Montenegro followed, developed and was fine-tuned simultaneously with the development of the needs and opportunities for the protection of archival records at state level. This development was influenced by the changes in the status of the Archives, the expansion of the scope of its functions, increase in the volume of archival materials, as well as the streamlining and improvements in the technology of archival operations.

In the period following its establishment, namely from 1950 - 1959 the structure of the Archives reflected and was dovetailed with the priority tasks which were primarily to locate, register, gather and sort out public records for which the Archives was responsible. This period was marked by serious personnel problems, both in terms of understaffing and lack of qualifications required for the transaction of archival affairs.

In 1959 the Federal Executive Council adopted its first act laying down the structure of the Archives. It was important not only in that it was the first such act passed by a public authority but also in that it set up a separate department within the Archives for the information on archival records. That was an indicator of the fact that in the period until that date the Archives had managed to complete a large number of technical tasks on its records that were now in a condition making it possible to use them and get more detailed information about the holdings and collections.

The next act on the structure of the Archives was passed in 1965 when it determined its definite structure. It was much more complex than before and had well-defined structural segments each responsible for a particular type of technical duties. This structure included a separate segment for the protection of archival records outside the Archives; namely, a Library was set up. The sorting out and processing of archival material took place in two separate structural segments depending on the periodization of the holdings in question.

The new structure was put in place in 1973 following the adoption of the Law on the Archives for the first time providing for the setting up of a department for the special protection of archival records and a somewhat changed structure for the sorting out and processing of public records. The baseline for determining the structure was not the periodization of the holdings but the activity that they pertained to. As part of the Common Services separate units were established for archival objects and equipment and for technical affairs and overall security.

According to the structure in place in 1978 when the Archives was once again incorporated into the government administration structure, the duties were divided up between two departments: the first covered archival duties and the second - legal and technical protection of archival records. Lower-level structural segments - sections were introduced, too. They followed the technical work processes on archival records and other activities within the Archives' remit.

The structure of the Archives in 1979 and 1980 included, for the first time, a research group as a separate structural segment. The sorting out and processing of records took place within the structural segments that were set up depending on the activity of the entities producing holdings and collections.

Further changes in the Archives' structure (until 2000) made it possible for a large number of duties to be streamlined in terms of human and technical resources.

The structure of the Archives in 2000 included two departments: the department for supervision, protection, sorting out, processing and use of archival records and the department for the application of information technologies, publishing of archival records, cultural and educational activity and international cooperation. In addition to the two departments, there was also a Section for Legal and Administrative Affairs. Within this general structure, there were also lower-level structural segments with specific technical duties.

In 2003 the first Act on the Structure of the Archives was passed within the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. The duties are performed by three departments as the main structural segments notably: the department for the protection of archival records, information and use; the department for sorting out and processing of archival records; and the department for IT applying and technical protection of archival records. Within each of these departments there are two lower-level structural segments - (5) units and (1) desk. Apart from these three departments, there is also a separate Legal, Material-Financial and Administrative Affairs Section. The salient features of this structure of the Archives are the following: the activities of the Archives are accurately defined; the performance of the duties and tasks presupposes an adequate working methodology and personnel; the technological process for a particular technical assignment or task is complete and structural segments are coherent and mutually interlinked making it possible to achieve maximum efficiency throughout the Archives.