The Department of International Law
(DIL) of the OAS Secretariat for Legal
Affairs participated in the inaugural
session of the III Archival Congress of the
Americas, held virtually from August 26
to 28. This event allowed various archival
scientists from around the Americas to share
experiences, outcomes, reflections, knowledge
and activities related to the theme "Archival
Territories: Building Social Sciences and
Humanities in Memory and Archival Science."
The event aimed to formulate recommendations to
guide the region’s public policies for the
effective implementation of archival knowledge,
the archival services that a digital society
requires, the coexistence of paper and
electronic systems, and the current dilemmas of
archival institutions, among others.
During his intervention, Dr. Dante Negro,
Director of the DIL, noted that document
management is part of the Department's agenda
based on a mandate from the OAS General
Assembly, under which the Inter-American Model
Law 2.0 on Access to Public Information and its
annexes, namely, the Inter-American Model Law on
Document Management and its corresponding
Application Guide have been drafted and approved
as a comprehensive set of tools to strengthen
the OAS Member States’ efforts to create or
reform their legal framework on the subject.
Dr. Negro also highlighted that the central axis
of the Model Law 2.0 is the principle of maximum
disclosure, which establishes that public
information must be delivered in a complete,
timely and accessible manner, and stressed that
these conditions cannot be met in the absence of
appropriate management of the information itself
and the documents that contain it.
For his part, Dr. Ricard Pérez, Head of the
Document Management and Electronic Archives
Section of the General Sub-Directorate of State
Archives of the Government of Spain, who
actively participated in the preparation of the
Inter-American Model Law on Document Management
and its Application Guide, referred to the links
between access to information and document
management, noting that when the archival tools
are inadequate, the documentation may exist but
not be duly registered, not found or have been
inappropriately destroyed, frustrating the
purpose of the right of access to public
information.
Dr. Pérez also highlighted the role of archival
work as a key element of access to public
information and therefore, of transparency as an
element of democratic life. Finally, he
summarized the content of the Model
Inter-American Law on Document Management,
making general comments on each of its chapters.
» To view the Inter-American Model Law on
Document Management,
click here.
» To view the Application Guide of the
Inter-American Model Law on Document Management,
click here.
» To visit the DIL’s web page on
access to public information,
click here.