State archives and archival departments of city councils have the right to inspect the operation of record-keeping services of enterprises. This process takes place regardless of the form of ownership. The goal is to control compliance with legislation on the National Archival Fund and archival institutions.
Read our article to learn how to prepare for scheduled and unscheduled inspections and what record keepers and office staff need to know.
BASIC CONCEPTS OF RECORD-KEEPING
Record-keeping is a set of processes that ensure the documentation of administrative information and the organization of work with official documents.
In combination with archival affairs, record-keeping is considered a unified documentary and information sphere.
The connection between record-keeping and archival affairs is realized through the fact that most documents accumulated as a result of a company’s activities are subject to storage in an archive.
The level of preparation of these documents and the organization of work with them in record-keeping are of great importance. This affects the quality of documents as sources of archival information, as well as the processes of forming the company’s archival fund.
Documentation of administrative information is the process of creating official documents containing:
- organizational and administrative information,
- primary accounting documentation,
- financial information,
- bookkeeping and accounting documentation,
- other types of administrative information.
These processes include, in particular, drafting texts and formatting the relevant types of administrative documents.
Organization of work with official documents refers to organizing document workflow, forming files, storing official documents, and using them in the company’s daily operations.
The organization of work with official documents includes:
- receiving, processing, registering, and reviewing incoming documents;
- creating, approving, and authenticating internal documents;
- monitoring the execution of incoming and internal documents;
- preparing, processing, registering, and sending outgoing documents;
- developing document nomenclatures and forming files;
- preparing files for archival storage and subsequent use.
Responsibility for the Organization of Record-Keeping and Archival Affairs in a Company
According to legislation, the head of the company bears responsibility for organizing record-keeping and archival affairs.
Employees of the record-keeping service are required to organize document processes in the company. It should be understood that the quality of organization and execution of relevant processes depends on the level of training and work experience of these employees. Therefore, it is important for the head to support the qualifications of specialists and implement the changes they propose. An example of this is the LITIKO case study on implementing an electronic archive for a bank.
The record-keeping service has a specific title, for example:
- chancery (office of central administration),
- general department,
- record-keeping department, etc.
In a small company, the functions of such a service may be performed by a single employee, usually a secretary or record keeper, or another person entrusted with responsibility for organizing record-keeping by order of the company head.
Heads of structural units are responsible for:
- the content, quality of preparation, and proper formatting of documents,
- the organization of record-keeping and storage of documents in the company’s structural units.
Checklist for Organizing Record-Keeping
- The organization of record-keeping in each structural unit of the company is assigned to a specially designated person whose job description specifies the relevant duties.
- Every company must have a defined set of official documents, provided by the document nomenclature, necessary and sufficient for documenting the company’s activities.
- Created administrative documents must comply with the legal status of the company.
- The head of the enterprise or their authorized representative must specify information regarding the organization of the record-keeping process in the company’s articles of association, regulations on its structural units, and job descriptions. The right to create, sign, approve, and endorse documents is also determined by legislative acts.
- The company creates archives to store documents completed in record-keeping. Legislation provides for their creation and use for official, production, scientific, and other purposes, as well as to protect the legitimate rights and interests of citizens. In small companies, a person responsible for the archive is appointed.
An archive can be an independent structural unit of the company or part of the structure of the record-keeping service.
Which Internal Regulations Must Be Developed and Implemented in a Company?
Competent company specialists must develop, and the company head must approve, the following internal regulations:
- regulations on the record-keeping service;
- regulations on the expert commission;
- regulations on the archive;
- job descriptions of employees who provide record-keeping and archival services;
- record-keeping instructions;
- file nomenclature of the company;
- an album or collection of forms for organizational and administrative documents created as a result of the company’s activities.
This will allow specialists to rationally organize record-keeping and archival affairs.
Read how to draft, authenticate, and implement these internal regulations in our upcoming publications.
Requirements for Document Formatting, Signing, and Storage
Requirements for organizing work with electronic documents are established by Procedure No. 1886/5:
- Requirements for implementing electronic document management using a qualified electronic signature or seal.
- Requirements for organizing work with electronic documents in record-keeping at companies of all forms of ownership.
- Requirements for preparing electronic documents for transfer to archival storage.
The general principles of documenting administrative information, features of record-keeping organization, and archival storage of paper documents are defined by Rules No. 1000/5.
Among the important national regulatory documents establishing formatting requirements, the National Standard of Ukraine DSTU 4163:2020 “State Unified System of Documentation. Unified System of Organizational and Administrative Documentation. Requirements for Formatting Documents” (effective as of September 01, 2021) deserves special attention.
This standard applies to organizational and administrative documents regardless of the information medium, in particular:
- organizational (charters, regulations, job descriptions, staffing tables, etc.);
- administrative (orders, directives, etc.);
- information and analytical (acts, certificates, memos, explanatory notes, official letters, etc.) documents.
These are all documents created as a result of the activity of state bodies, local self-government bodies, institutions, enterprises, organizations, and other legal entities regardless of their functional purpose, scope of activity, and form of ownership.
DSTU 4163:2020 establishes:
- the composition of document requisites;
- requirements for the content and location of requisites in documents;
- requirements for letterheads and document formatting;
- requirements for documents produced using printing equipment.
Which Legal Acts and Regulatory Documents Should Guide the Organization of Record-Keeping and Archiving?
To date, Ukraine has formed a substantial legal, regulatory, and methodological framework. Its goal is to ensure the operation of the documentary and information sphere at enterprises, institutions, and organizations of all forms of ownership (hereinafter – company).
A leading role in forming this framework is played by the State Archival Service of Ukraine (hereinafter – Ukrderzharkhiv), which according to legislation is the specially authorized central executive body in the field of record-keeping and archival affairs, and the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, under whose jurisdiction Ukrderzharkhiv operates.
The main legislative act regulating state policy in the field of record-keeping and archival affairs is the Law of Ukraine “On the National Archival Fund and Archival Institutions” dated December 24, 1993, No. 3814-XII (rada.gov.ua). According to this Law, legal entities and individuals are obliged to ensure the preservation of the National Archival Fund and contribute to its replenishment.
It is also worth highlighting the Law of Ukraine “On Electronic Documents and Electronic Document Management” dated May 22, 2003, No. 851-IV (rada.gov.ua). This Law establishes the main organizational and legal foundations for electronic document management and the use of electronic documents. The scope of this Law covers relationships arising during the creation, sending, transmission, receipt, storage, processing, use, and destruction of electronic documents.
In addition to these laws, the country’s government has issued a number of subordinate acts whose requirements concern the sphere of record-keeping and archival affairs (in particular, the introduction of electronic document management, transfer of electronic documents for archival storage, etc.) and complement, clarify, and detail the provisions of the relevant laws, namely:
- Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On Conducting Document Value Examination” dated August 8, 2007, No. 1004 (rada.gov.ua);
- Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On Approval of the Instructions for Record-Keeping on Citizens’ Appeals in State Power and Local Self-Government Bodies, Associations of Citizens, Enterprises, Institutions, Organizations Regardless of Ownership Forms, and Media” dated April 14, 1997, No. 348 (rada.gov.ua);
- Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On Approval of the Model Instruction on the Procedure for Accounting, Storing, Using, and Destroying Documents and Other Material Information Carriers Containing Official Information” dated October 19, 2016, No. 736 (rada.gov.ua);
- Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “Certain Issues of Administrative Activity Documentation” dated January 17, 2018, No. 55 (rada.gov.ua);
- Order of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine “On Approval of the List of Standard Documents Created in the Course of Activity of State Bodies, Local Self-Government Bodies, and Other Legal Entities, Indicating Document Retention Periods” dated April 12, 2012, No. 578/5 (rada.gov.ua);
- Order of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine “On Approval of the Procedure for Working with Electronic Documents in Record-Keeping and Their Preparation for Transfer to Archival Storage” dated November 11, 2014, No. 1886/5 (rada.gov.ua) (hereinafter – Procedure No. 1886/5);
- Order of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine “On Approval of the Rules for Organizing Record-Keeping and Archival Storage of Documents in State Bodies, Local Self-Government Bodies, Enterprises, Institutions, and Organizations” dated June 18, 2015, No. 1000/5 (rada.gov.ua) (hereinafter – Rules No. 1000/5);
- Order of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine “On Approval of the Procedure for Receiving and Transferring Electronic Documents of the National Archival Fund for Permanent Storage” dated December 30, 2020, No. 4555/5 (rada.gov.ua).
The LITIKO Team of Specialists Provides Record-Keeping Consultation
We hope that our material will be useful to you in your daily work. And remember that the LITIKO team has specialists who can provide consultation on modern methods of record-keeping organization and archival storage of documents.
In August 2024, we are hosting a webinar on: “Creating an Enterprise Electronic Archive.”
Visit the registration page and join the webinar on August 15 at 11:00 AM. Or register to get access to the video recording.
Speaker:
📌 Yurii Slavovych Kovtaniuk, Ph.D. in History, Senior Researcher, Deputy Director General for Research at the V.I. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, Director of the Central State Electronic Archives of Ukraine (2015–2022), developer of draft Ministry of Justice orders No. 1886/5 dated 11.11.2014 and No. 4555/5 dated 30.12.2020.
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