Archival Legislation in Macao - Law (Page 1)

Decree-Law no 73/89/M
of 30th of October

The conservation of documents and files in the public services was generically regulated by Article 496 of the Estatuto do Funcionalismo Ultramarino [Colonial Civil Service Statutes], approved by Decree-Law no. 46,982, of 27 April 1966, which stipulated that files should be transferred along with the appropriate list to the General Archives of each province ten years after the date of the last document in the files or earlier if the files were deemed inactive, and that the service’s own records should contain a “closed file” note with the date and reference number of the list accompanying the relevant transfer to the General Archives.

After that legislation was revoked by no. 35/88/M, of 9th of May, there was no longer any generically applicable retention period for documents, although there remained the obligation to transfer documents published in the Official Gazette to the Historical Archives of Macau, in the role of the General Archives of the Territory, after 5 years , , according to Article 39 of Decree-Law no. 42/85/M, of the 18th of May.

In fact, Decree-Law no 39/82/M, of the 21st of August, which instituted the microfilming of documents in public services, stipulated that retention periods would be defined on a case by case basis by administrative rule, (portaria), based on a proposal from the head of each service or sector and that, after microfilming, the departments in question would be authorized to proceed with the destruction of the documents, provided that those documents had no historical value or no other relevant issue remained.

Based on this legal framework, it may be concluded that the archival legislation in force in the Territory lacked a comprehensive structure and, as such, there were no uniform criteria or retention periods for the different kinds of documents; nor was due care being taken with the preservation of documentation of historic value through incorporation into the Macao Historical Archives, despite the various administrative rules on retention and destruction of documents being subject to the legal opinion of the Civil Service Bureau, according to the organic statutes of this service, thus making some degree of standardization feasible.

The above points show how urgent it is to establish the foundations of Macao’s archival regime, in order to describe and classify documents to distinguish between those requiring permanent or temporary preservation and to establish appropriate retention periods for their disposal.

Therefore the aim of this decree-law is both to manage documents in a systematic manner according to their value and lifetime, taking into account available storage space, and to create a historical, archival heritage, the memory of facts, which is an integral part of the cultural heritage.

This decree-law also establishes the General Council of Archives, a consultative body of the Governor, the aim of which is to contribute to defining the archival policy of the Territory and to issue legal opinions on regulatory and technical issues relating to archives.