INSPECTION SUPERVISION

Supervision over the implementation of the provisions of the Law on Archive Material is performed by the State Archive of the Republic of Macedonia, through the Inspection Department which operates within the Sector for Inspection Supervision and Protection of Archive Material at the Holders.

Inspection Unit is in charge of inspecting the archival work of the holders of public archival and documentary material and the office and archive work of the holders of private archival and documentary material. The inspectors for archival material have licenses for performing inspection supervision, issued by the Inspection Council, and the supervision is performed in accordance with the Law on Archive Material and the Law on Inspection, as well as the laws on general administrative procedure and misdemeanor procedure.

During the inspection of the holders of public archive material, it is determined whether the state bodies and public institutions comply with the obligations provided by the laws and bylaws for archival work, and in particular:

  • Have plans of archival signs with lists of archival and documentary material been adopted and has the consent of the State Archives been obtained for their application;
  •  Is there an ongoing selection of the archive from the documentary material and is it recorded with a description and inventory that is submitted to the State Archives;
  •  Is there a separation and inventory of the documentary material whose deadlines for use have expired and has the consent of the State Archives been obtained for the destruction of the proposed material;
  •  Are the archival and documentary material kept in original form and is their protection from damage, disappearance or destruction ensured;
  •  Is the archive material submitted to the State Archive within the legally determined deadlines.

The holders of private archival and documentary material, the inspection is performed in accordance with Article 32 of the Law on Archival Material, according to which the holders of private archival and documentary material are obliged to keep basic or own records of archival and documentary material, to adopt an archive plan. signs with a list of archival and documentary material, to make current selection of the archival from the documentary material and to keep the archival material permanently in accordance with this law, and the holders of private archival material with up to 49 employees are obliged to adopt a plan of archival signs with list of archival and documentary material, if they have archival material and to keep the archival material permanently.

The inspection has primarily a preventive function, and inspection measures and sanctions are imposed only when the purpose of the supervision cannot be ensured with the preventive function. According to the Law on Archive Material, one of the basic competencies of the State Archive is to provide protection of the public archive material which is the property of the Republic of Macedonia and to undertake it for permanent storage within the legally determined deadlines. Therefore, during the inspection, the inspectors from the State Archive pay special attention to the conditions in which the holders keep and protect the documents which according to the Plan with the list of archival and documentary material are defined as archival material and which after 20 years of their creation will be handed over for permanent storage in the State Archive of the Republic of Macedonia.