Archiving Documents (NO0054)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Norway Action Plan 2019-2021
Action Plan Cycle: 2019
Status: Active
Institutions
Lead Institution: Ministry of Culture
Support Institution(s): The National Archives of Norway
Policy Areas
Capacity Building, Records ManagementIRM Review
IRM Report: Norway Design Report 2019-2021
Starred: Pending IRM Review
Early Results: Pending IRM Review
Design i
Verifiable: Yes
Relevant to OGP Values: Access to Information
Implementation i
Completion: Pending IRM Review
Description
Guidance for the fulfilment of the duty to journalling and archiving documents
1 February 2018 to 1 June 2019
Responsible body Ministry of Culture
Description
What problem for the general public
is the commitment aimed to solve?
The central government shall give everyone the
opportunity to both control the administrative
procedures in public agencies and to participate
in democratic processes. Access to public agency
documents requires that the agencies record and
archive case documents and give the population
access to the records. With the increasing production of digital case documents and the increasing
communication of these via e-mail, there is a risk
that digital case documents are not journaled or
archived.
What is the commitment? Produce guides and educational materials for
government agencies on the duty to journalling
and archiving documents.
How will the commitment contribute
to solving the problem?
The risk that documents for which journalling
and archiving are required are not recorded and
archived will be reduced.
How is this commitment relevant to
the OGP’s fundamental values?
The commitment opens up the possibility of
releasing more information, improving the quality
of the information available and/or improving the
availability of the information, so that it is more
accessible to the general public.
Additional information
19
Milestones Start date End date
Survey the current guides, and survey
the needs and problem areas.
1 February 2018 30 June 2018
Prepare requirements for new guidance
materials
30 June 2018 30 September 2018
Produce new guides and educational
materials. Test these out.
1 October 2018 31 March 2019
Finalise the guidance materials. 1 April 2019 1 June 2019
Contact information
Person responsible from the
implementing body
Magnar Nordtug
Entity Ministry of Culture
E-mail/Telephone Magnar.Nordtug@kud.dep.no / +47 22 24 80 69
Other public participants The National Archives of Norway
Collaborative civil society
organisations, cross-sectoral
working groups, etc.
IRM Midterm Status Summary
1. Guidance for the fulfilment of the duty to journaling and archiving documents
Main Objective
"The central government shall give everyone the opportunity to both control the administrative procedures in public agencies and to participate in democratic processes. Access to public agency documents requires that the agencies record and archive case documents and give the population access to the records. With the increasing production of digital case documents and the increasing communication of these via e-mail, there is a risk that digital case documents are not journaled or archived.
Produce guides and educational materials for government agencies on the duty to adastere and archiving documents."
Milestones
- Survey the current guides, and survey the needs and problem areas (1 February 2018 - 30 June 2018).
- Prepare requirements for new guidance materials (30 June 2018 - 30 September 2018)
- Produce new guides and educational materials. Test these out (1 October 2018 - 31 March 2019)
- Finalise the guidance materials (1 April 2019 - 1 June 2019).
Editorial Note: For the complete text of this commitment, please see Norway's action plan at https://www.regjeringen.no/en/dokumenter/norges-handlingsplan-4---open-government-partnership-ogp/id2638814/
IRM Design Report Assessment | |
Verifiable: | Yes |
Relevant: | Access to information |
Potential impact: | Minor |
Commitment Analysis
This commitment aims to improve the archiving practices of Norwegian public authorities. All public authorities in Norway are required to archive incoming and outgoing documents, per the country's Freedom of Information Act. However, in 2017, the Office of the Auditor General reported that governmental bodies in Norway do not always sufficiently live up to these mandatory archiving and recording-keeping practices. [1] Poor record keeping by government bodies can negatively impact the work of journalists, who rely on expedient archiving and up-to-date public documents. According to a representative from the Ministry of Culture, the situation is exacerbated by communication via email, where the emails themselves (not just attachments) need to be archived. [2]
Although Norway already has a good technical solution for archiving documents through the public electronic records (eInnsyn), [3] record keeping has been practiced differently among the 121 governmental bodies currently using the system. [4] For example, according to the Auditor General's 2017 report, eight out of 17 Norwegian ministries do not publish records of internal documents. [5]
Under this commitment, the Ministry of Culture will survey current guidelines, needs, and practices in the area of record keeping among government bodies. It will then use the findings to develop new guidelines and educational materials, which will be tested out before they are finalised. While the commitment will not directly lead to the publication of information, the new guidelines aim to improve the availability of government documents through better archiving practices. Therefore, the commitment is relevant to the OGP value of access to information. The new guidelines and educational materials are verifiable, though the commitment lacks details on the planned survey of current practices among government bodies.
If developed and circulated, the new guidelines could help standardise record-keeping practices among Norwegian public authorities. This in turn could improve the ability of public authorities to respond to FoI requests in a timely manner and provide authorities with better information on how to fulfill their duties to archiving and record keeping. However, according to the action plan, the Ministry of Culture expected to conduct the survey of current practices was expected to be completed by 30 June 2018, and finalise the new guidance materials by 1 June 2019, prior to the official start of the action plan (1 July 2019). Furthermore, according to the Norwegian Union of Journalists, the development of guidelines alone is unlikely not sufficient to improve the situation. [6] As this commitment seeks to take preliminary steps towards better archiving practices, the potential impact is considered minor.
Moving forward, after the guidance materials are tested and finalised, the IRM recommends conducting follow-up activities to ensure they are followed by public authorities and adjusted as needed. Furthermore, the IRM recommends that the new materials include guidance for public authorities on record keeping and responding to FoI requests in a timely manner during the COVID-19 pandemic. The government could consider working with the Norwegian Union of Journalists to jointly develop these guidelines on record-keeping practices during the pandemic.
Commitments
-
Archiving Documents
NO0054, 2019, Capacity Building
-
Making Energy Statistics Available
NO0055, 2019, Anti-Corruption
-
e-Access and Expansion
NO0056, 2019, Access to Information
-
Open Cultural Data
NO0057, 2019, Access to Information
-
Digital Spatial Planning
NO0058, 2019, E-Government
-
Streamline Public Procurement
NO0059, 2019, Anti-Corruption
-
Preventing Corruption
NO0060, 2019, Anti-Corruption
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Beneficial Ownership Registry
NO0061, 2019, Anti-Corruption
-
User Orientation
NO0045, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Electronic Public Records (OEP)
NO0046, 2016, E-Government
-
Transparency Regarding Environmental Information
NO0047, 2016, E-Government
-
Disclosure of Financial Data
NO0048, 2016, Access to Information
-
Transparency Regarding Rainforest Funds
NO0049, 2016, E-Government
-
State Employees’ Ownership of Shares
NO0050, 2016, Anti-Corruption
-
Promote Freedom of Expression and Independent Media
NO0051, 2016, Civic Space
-
Country-By-Country Reporting
NO0052, 2016, Anti-Corruption
-
Register for Ultimate Beneficial Ownership
NO0053, 2016, Anti-Corruption
-
Public Review and Public Consultation
NO0020, 2013, Capacity Building
-
Registering and Preserving Digital Documentation Produced by Public Bodies
NO0021, 2013, Access to Information
-
The Norwegian Citizen Survey (Innbyggerundersøkelsen)
NO0022, 2013, Public Participation
-
Whistleblowing
NO0023, 2013, Anti-Corruption
-
Strengthened Information Exchange for More Efficient Crime Prevention and Combating
NO0024, 2013, Justice
-
Strengthening the Transparency of Public Authorities and Administration
NO0025, 2013, Access to Information
-
Egovernment with an End-User Focus
NO0026, 2013, E-Government
-
Plain Legal Language
NO0027, 2013, Capacity Building
-
Norwegian Grants Portal (MFA)
NO0028, 2013, Aid
-
An International Convention or Agreement on Financial Transparency
NO0029, 2013, Private Sector
-
Reducing Conflicts of Interests – Post-Employment Regulations
NO0030, 2013, Anti-Corruption
-
Centre for Integrity in the Defence Sector
NO0031, 2013, Security & Public Safety
-
A Better Overview of Committees, Boards and Councils – More Public Access to Information and Better Opportunities for Further Use
NO0032, 2013, E-Government
-
Modernizing Public Governance
NO0033, 2013, Capacity Building
-
Transparency in the Management of Oil and Gas Revenues
NO0034, 2013, Anti-Corruption
-
Transparency in the Management of the Government Pension Fund (GPF)
NO0035, 2013, E-Government
-
Transparency and Anti-Corruption Efforts
NO0036, 2013, Anti-Corruption
-
The Municipal Sector
NO0037, 2013, Education
-
“Simplify” (“Enkelt Og Greit”)
NO0038, 2013, E-Government
-
Electronic Public Records (OEP) – (Offentlig Elektronisk Postjournal)
NO0039, 2013, Access to Information
-
Re-Use of Public Sector Information (PSI)
NO0040, 2013, Access to Information
-
Access to Health Data
NO0041, 2013, E-Government
-
Renewal of the Government’S Website (Regjeringen.No – Government.No)
NO0042, 2013, E-Government
-
Declaration of Principles for Interaction and Dialogue with NGOs
NO0043, 2013, Capacity Building
-
Simplification and Digital Administration of Arrangements for NGOs
NO0044, 2013, Capacity Building
-
An Open Public Sector and Inclusive Government
NO0001, 2011, Anti-Corruption
-
Measures to Promote Gender Equality and Women’S Full Participation in Civic Life, the Private Sector, the Public Administration and Political Processes.
NO0002, 2011, Gender
-
Gender Equality – Participation in the Private Sector
NO0003, 2011, Gender
-
Increase Women's Representation in Local Government
NO0004, 2011, Gender
-
Gender Equality Program
NO0005, 2011, Gender
-
Gender Equality – Inclusion of Immigrant Women
NO0006, 2011, Gender
-
Gender Equality – Combat Gender Stereotypes
NO0007, 2011, Gender
-
Gender Equality – Youth Initiatives
NO0008, 2011, Gender
-
Gender Equality – Combat Domestic Violence
NO0009, 2011, Gender
-
Transparency in the Management of Oil and Gas Revenues / Financial Transparency
NO0010, 2011, Aid
-
Transparency in the Management of Oil and Gas Revenues / Financial Transparency – Government Global Pension Fund
NO0011, 2011, Fiscal Openness
-
Transparency in the Management of Oil and Gas Revenues / Financial Transparency – Combat Tax Evasion
NO0012, 2011, Fiscal Openness
-
Transparency in the Management of Oil and Gas Revenues / Financial Transparency – Multi-National Companies
NO0013, 2011, Fiscal Openness
-
An Open Public Sector and Inclusive Government – Create Central Communication Policy
NO0014, 2011, Fiscal Openness
-
An Open Public Sector and Inclusive Government
NO0015, 2011, E-Government
-
An Open Public Sector and Inclusive Government – Public Data Use
NO0016, 2011, Public Participation
-
An Open Public Sector and Inclusive Government – National Statistic Publication
NO0017, 2011, Access to Information
-
An Open Public Sector and Inclusive Government – National Public Opinion Survey
NO0018, 2011,
-
An Open Public Sector and Inclusive Government
NO0019, 2011, Public Participation