B.

The following measures in the field of archives: 1. preservation of and prevention of damage to archives in Europe: — development of a model action plan by the European Archives Group to promote damage prevention measures for documents and archives in the context of natural catastrophes and other harmful incidents, — promotion by the European Archives Group of Community-wide actions for the preservation and restoration of damaged documents and archives, — establishment and promotion, by the national archives services of the Member States and the archives services of the institutions of the Union, of standards and specifications for the construction of new purpose built premises for archives; 2. reinforcement of European interdisciplinary cooperation on electronic documents and archives to be further developed, including within the framework of the Council Work Plan for Culture, in particular regarding the coordination of digitalisation (6): — increase in cooperation on safeguarding the authenticity, long-term preservation and availability of electronic documents and archives, in particular by updating and extending the current requirements for setting up electronic document and archive management systems such as MoReq (Model requirements for electronic documents and archives management systems), which promote better public administration, and by continuing to organise DLM (7) forums on electronic documents and archives; 3. establishment and maintenance of an Internet portal for documents and archives in Europe as a priority: — provision, through the national archives services of the Member States and the archives services of the institutions of the Union, of an Internet portal which would give easier and cross-border access to documents and archives of the Member States and institutions of the Union. That Internet portal could be hosted either on one of the European Union computer servers or by the national archives service of a Member State; 4. promotion of best practice with regard to national and European law on the management of, and access to, documents and archives; the national archives services of the Member States and the archives services of the institutions of the Union should: — monitor new draft legislation in that field to be enacted in any of the Member States, with the aim of identifying best practices especially with regard to requirements for the management of and access to documents and archives, — link data on archival legislation and other related laws at national and Community level and facilitate consultation thereof by setting up a database in order to encourage dissemination of that legislation. That database could be hosted either on one of the European Union computer servers or by the national archives service of a Member State. It is advisable to take into account the work undertaken within the framework of the European legal data project, promoted by the European branch of the International Archives Council, EURBICA, as indicated in the ‘Report on Archives in the enlarged European Union’ (priority action 4.2); 5. adoption of measures to prevent the theft of archival documents: — development of an action plan and common guidelines by the national archives services of the Member States that will allow for the exchange of information and best practices in order to combat the theft of archival documents and to facilitate the recovery of stolen documents.