Archiving Act (ArchA)
English is not an official language of the Swiss Confederation. This translation is provided for information purposes only and has no legal force.
Art. 1 Purpose and scope
1 This Act regulates the archiving of documents from: a. the Federal Assembly; b. the Federal Council, the Federal Administration as defined in Article 2 of the Government and Administration Organisation Act of 21 March 1997, and the units of the armed forces; c. Swiss diplomatic and consular missions abroad; d. the Federal Criminal Court, the Federal Administrative Court, the Federal Patent Court and the federal appeals and arbitration commissions; e. the autonomous institutions of the Confederation; f. the Swiss National Bank; g. extra-parliamentary committees; h. other public or private law bodies that fulfil executive tasks delegated to them by the Confederation, with the exception of the cantons; i. former federal bodies. 2 This Act also applies to the use of archive records belonging to the Confederation by federal bodies and by third parties. 3 The Federal Supreme Court shall regulate the archiving of their documents in accordance with the principles contained in this Act and in
Para. 1 let. b — SR 172.010 Para. 1 let. d — Amended by No I 1 of the FA of 28 Sept. 2012 on the Amendment of Procedural Provisions on Lawyers' Professional Secrecy, in force since 1 May 2013 (AS 2013 847; BBl 2011 8181). Para. 3 — Amended by No II 3 of the FA of 20 March 2008 on the Formal Revision of Federal Legislation, in force since 1 Aug. 2008 (AS 2008 3437; BBl 2007 6121).
Art. 2 Principles
1 Federal documents that are valuable for legal, political, economic, historical, social or cultural reasons shall be archived. 2 Archiving makes a contribution towards legal certainty as well as to the continuous and efficient management of administrative activities. In particular, it forms the basis for historical and sociological research.
Art. 3 Definitions
1 Documents within the meaning of this Act are all recorded information, irrespective of the medium, that is received or produced in the fulfilment of the public duties of the Confederation, as well as all finding aids and supplementary data that are required in order to understand and use this information. 2 Archive records are documents that have been accepted by the Federal Archives for safekeeping or that are independently archived by other bodies in accordance with the principles laid down in this Act. 3 Documents that are of archival value are documents of legal or administrative importance or which contain valuable information.