Law N° 2024/001 of 24 JUN 2024 to Regulate Archives in Cameroon

REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON PEACE – WORK – FATHERLAND

LAW N° 2024/001 OF 24 JUN 2024

TO REGULATE ARCHIVES IN CAMEROON

PRESIDENCE DE LA REPUBLIQUE PRESIDENCY OF THE REPUBLIC SECRETARIAT GENERAL SERVICE DU FICHIER LEGISLATIF ET REGLEMENTAIRE LEGISLATIF, AND STATUTORY AFFAIRS CARD INDEX SERVICE COPIE CERTIFIEE CONFORME CERTIFIED TRUE COPY

The Parliament deliberated and adopted, the President of the Republic hereby enacts the law set out below:

# CHAPTER I ## GENERAL PROVISIONS

I - PURPOSE

SECTION 1: This law regulates archives in Cameroon.

As such, it shall:

• organize the archiving and preservation of the archival heritage;
• organize the traceability, control and security of archives, from their creation to their final storage;
• foster professionalism in archiving and the empowerment of all those involved in the archival production chain;
• foster the inclusion of an archival culture in national development strategies;
• regulate economic archiving activities;
• ensure the financing of the development and modernization of the National Archives System;

II - DEFINITIONS

SECTION 2: Within the meaning of this law and its implementing instruments, the following definitions shall apply:

1. approval: permission granted to a natural or legal person to provide archival services;
2. archiving: all the techniques, actions and means used to collect, classify, preserve and transfer documents throughout their life cycle, from their creation upstream within organizations to their disposal or entry into the National Archives System;
3. electronic archiving: any action aimed at identifying, collecting, classifying and storing information for subsequent consultation on an electronic medium for as long as necessary to fulfil legal obligations or to satisfy information needs;
4. archives: all documents, including data irrespective of their nature, date, oral or material form, medium or location created or received by any natural or legal person and by any public or private service or body in the course of its activities and preserved in the public interest, both for the purposes of managing and justifying the rights of natural or legal persons, whether public or private, and for historical purposes;
5. audiovisual archives: works containing reproducible images and/or sounds on a physical medium, the recording, transmission, perception and understanding of which require the use of a technical device.

PRESIDENCE DE LA REPUBLIQUE PRESIDENCY OF THE REPUBLIC SECRETA GENERAL SERVICE ELEGIBLATIF ET REGLEMENTAIRE LEGISATIVE AND STATUTORY AFFAIRS C AND INDEX SERVICE SERVICE CONFORME

1. current records: documents that are frequently used in the activities of the ministries, services, establishments or organizations that created or received them;

1. electronic archives: digital documents based on or resulting from a digitization process, produced by a natural or legal person within the framework of its activities;

1. historical or permanent records: documents which, after regular or occasional use, are preserved by virtue of their historical value;

1. non-current records: documents which, although no longer considered current records, cannot yet be disposed of or kept permanently by virtue of their administrative value or occasional use;

1. oral archives: documents made up of induced or spontaneous oral testimonies;