Summary of the law on electronic archiving of documents (Law 135/2007)

Source Law 135/2007 on electronic archiving of documents.

Summary of the law in english – Unofficial translation

Republishing Information:

The law was republished on 15-Jan-2016 pursuant to Art. 248 of Law nr. 187/2012 for the implementation of Law no. 286/2009 regarding the Criminal Code.
Published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, nr. 757 of 12 November 2012, corrected in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, nr. 117 of 1 March 2013.

Chapter I: General Provisions

Purpose: Establishes the legal regime for creating, preserving, consulting, and using documents in electronic form archived or to be archived in an electronic archive.

Compliance: Archival processing operations comply with the provisions of National Archives Law nr. 16/1996, subsequent amendments, and regulations regarding preservation, access, and protection of information.

Chapter II: Definitions

Key Terms:
- Administrator of the Electronic Archive: Accredited natural or legal person managing the electronic archiving system and archived documents.
- Electronic Archive: The system and all archived documents in electronic form.
- Provider of Electronic Archiving Services: Accredited natural or legal person providing electronic archiving services.
- Storage Medium: Any medium for recording or playing back a document in electronic form.
- Electronic Message: Document in electronic form for remote transmission of information.
- Access Regime to the Document: Degree of right of access granted by the holder of the right of disposal.
- Electronic Archiving System: Information system for collecting, storing, organizing, and cataloging electronic documents.
- Holder of the Right of Disposal Over the Document: Natural or legal person with the right to establish and modify access regimes.

Article 4

Right to Submit Documents:
- Any natural or legal person has the right to submit documents in electronic form for storage in an electronic archive.
- Subject to the conditions specified in this law.

Article 5

Authorization and Competition:
- The provision of electronic archiving services does not require prior authorization.
- Conducted in accordance with the principles of free and fair competition.
- Compliance with the normative acts in force is mandatory.

Article 6

Obligations before Commencing Activities:
- Persons intending to provide electronic archiving services must notify the specialized regulatory and supervisory authority 30 days before starting activities.
- The administrator of the electronic archive, after notification, must provide all information on security and preservation procedures to the regulatory authority.
Changes to Procedures:
- The administrator must communicate any intention to modify security and preservation procedures at least 10 days in advance.
- Specifies the date and time of the change.
- Confirmation of the change must be made within 24 hours.
Emergency Changes:
- In emergency cases affecting security, the administrator can make immediate changes.
- Within 24 hours, communicate changes and provide justification to the regulatory authority.
Obligation to Observe Procedures:
- The administrator must observe declared security and preservation procedures throughout the activity.

Article 7

Requirements for Document Receipt:
- Receipt of an electronic document in the electronic archive requires:
  - a) Signing with the extended electronic signature of the document’s right holder.
  - b) Validation of the electronic signature of the document’s right holder.
  - c) Depositing encryption and decryption keys for encrypted documents falling under the incidence of Law no. 16/1996.
  - d) Transmission of information as per Article 8 para. (2).

Article 8

Archiving Process:
- (1) An electronic document meeting Article 7 conditions is electronically signed by the archive administrator, confirming its value as original or copy per the right holder’s decision.
- (2) A sheet accompanies each archived electronic document, containing essential information such as owner, issuer, right holder, document history, type, classification, digital format, keywords, physical support details, unique identifier, issue and archiving date, and storage term.
- (3) If the electronic document is digitized from analogue, additional information is included: references to the original owner and location, transfer method, hardware device used, and computer program used.

Article 9

Record-keeping and Access:
- (1) The electronic archive administrator must register and maintain records of all electronic documents in an electronic register.
- (2) Access to the electronic archive register is public only for documents with a regime of public access set by the document’s right holder.
- (3) Reference to classified documents in the archive register is subject to the applicant’s access rights.

Article 10

Financial Resources:
- (1) The electronic archive administrator must possess financial resources to cover potential damages arising from electronic archiving activities. The precautionary modality is determined by the specialized regulatory and supervisory authority.
- (2) If the electronic archive includes or is expected to contain classified documents, the administrator must adhere to legal conditions for protecting classified information.

Article 11

Archiving of Document Accompanying Sheet:
- The document accompanying sheet is archived separately from the document and registered in the electronic archive. If the record pertains to a classified document, the reference in the register is encrypted.

Article 12

Source Code Preservation:
- (1) The electronic archive administrator is obligated to preserve the source code of all programs used for constructing and operating the electronic archive. This preservation is in electronically signed and classified files.
- (2) The administrator must submit a copy of the source code of all programs used to build and operate the electronic archive to the National Archives.
- (3) If the administrator lacks the source code, the provisions apply to executable source code.

Article 13

Maintenance of Documents in Electronic Form:
- (1) The electronic archive administrator must ensure the maintenance and provide programs allowing the translation of electronic documents into a format compatible with current technologies.
- (2) When archiving a document in a format not recognized by existing products, the administrator must add to the library the format’s description and the software used for generation and viewing.

Access Regime Establishment:
- (1) The access regime to an electronic document is exclusively determined by the holder of the document’s right of disposal through a signed act, co-signed by the administrator of the electronic archive.
- (2) The established access regime is recorded in the electronic format sheet of the document, and the act becomes an annex to the archived document.
- (3) The electronic archive administrator must adhere to the access regime during archiving and when providing access to the document from the archive.
- (4) The responsibility for establishing the access regime lies with the document’s holder, while the administrator is responsible for adhering to it during archiving and access provision.

Article 15

Access Assurance:
- The electronic archive administrator ensures permanent or on-demand access for each electronic document in accordance with conditions set in Article 14 and relevant legislation.

Article 16

Administrator’s Obligations:
- (a) Maintenance of the electronic archive.
- (b) Creation and constant offline updating of an electronic security archive containing all archived electronic documents.
- (c) Utilization of an approved security system ensuring integrity, security, and, if necessary, confidentiality of archived electronic documents.
- (d) Ensuring the rendering of any electronic document in the archive.
- (e) Ensuring the destruction of documents with expired archiving periods.
- (f) Notification to the regulatory authority 60 days in advance of the intent to cease the activity, with a provision to transfer the electronic archive to another provider in cases of force majeure.

Article 17

Electronic Archive Storage:
- Electronic archives must be stored in authorized data centers.
- Rules ensure the integrity and security of electronic documents, the security of the hosting equipment space, and information recovery after natural disasters.
- Within 90 days, the regulatory authority will issue norms for data center authorization.

Chapter VII: Contraventions

Article 18

Non-compliance with the law leads to contravention, civil, or criminal liability.

Article 19

Administrator non-compliance with specified articles is not an offense if not deemed so by law.

Article 20

Contraventions under Article 19 incur fines ranging from 3,000 lei to 10,000 lei.

Article 21

(1) Detection and application of sanctions are under the regulatory authority’s control personnel.
(2) Contraventions follow Government Ordinance no. 2/2001 on contraventions.

Article 22

(1) Responsibility for applying the law lies with the specialized regulatory authority.
(2) Within 3 months, regulations for applying the law, accrediting electronic archive administrators, and authorizing data centers will be developed in collaboration with the National Archives.

Published in Official Gazette no. 138 of 25 February 2014