Storage and preservation
1. Storage and preservation shall take place under the following conditions:
(a)
records shall be stored in the form in which they were created, sent or received or in a form which preserves the authenticity, reliability and the integrity of their content and of the accompanying metadata;
(b)
the content of records and their relevant metadata must be readable throughout their period of storage by any person authorised to have access to them;
(c)
where records are sent or received electronically, the information required to determine the origin or destination of the record and the date and time of the capture or registration, shall be part of the minimum metadata to be stored;
(d)
as regards electronic procedures managed by IT systems, information about the formal stages of the procedure shall be stored under such conditions as to ensure that those stages and the authors and participants can be identified.
2. The Secretary-General shall ensure the implementation of a digital preservation strategy to ensure long-term access to electronic records on the basis of the retention lists referred in Article 15(1). The strategy shall be drawn up in cooperation with the Commission’s Historical Archives Service and shall ensure that processes, tools and resources are in place to ensure the authenticity, reliability and integrity of records and their accessibility.
Retention, transfer and elimination
1. The retention period for the various categories of files and, in certain cases, records, shall be set for the whole Commission by way of regulatory instruments, such as the common retention list, or one or more specific retention lists drawn up on the basis of the organisational context, the existing legislation and the Commission’s legal obligations.
2. Directorates-general and equivalent departments shall regularly conduct an appraisal of records and files managed by them to assess whether they shall be transferred to the Commission’s historical archives referred to in Article 16, or eliminated.
However, a set of metadata on records and files shall be retained in the original electronic repository as evidence of such records and files and their transfer or elimination.
3. EU classified information with a classification of CONFIDENTIEL UE/EU CONFIDENTIAL or higher shall not be transferred to the Commission’s Historical Archives Service.
Commission’s Historical Archives Service
The tasks of the Commission’s Historical Archives Service shall be to:
(a)
guarantee the authenticity, reliability and integrity of and access to the Commission’s records, files and archives which have been transferred to it;
(b)
ensure the material protection and integrity of the metadata of records and files provided by the transferring departments;
(c)
make records and files available on request to the directorates-general or equivalent departments;
(d)
undertake, where necessary and in cooperation with the originating directorate-general or equivalent department or its successor, a second review of all transferred records, files and archives;
(e)
initiate the declassification of classified documents as referred to in Articles 3 and 5 of Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83;
(f)
open the Commission’s historical archives to the public after the expiry of a period of 30 years, except for those records covered by exceptions relating to the privacy and integrity of individuals, or the commercial interests of a natural or legal person, including intellectual property;
(g)
deposit the Commission’s historical archives that have been opened to the public at the Historical Archives of the European Union at the EUI.
Processing of personal data contained in the Commission’s historical archives
1. The following derogations from the rights of data subjects shall apply in accordance with Article 25(4) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, as necessary to fulfil archiving purposes in the public interest and to preserve the integrity of the Commission’s historical archives, in particular:
(a)
the right of access ( 19 ) , in so far as the request of the data subject does not allow for the identification of specific records without involving disproportionate administrative effort. In assessing the action to be taken on the request of the data subject and the administrative effort required, particular account shall be taken of the information provided by the data subject and the nature, scope and size of the records potentially concerned;
(b)
the right to rectification ( 20 ) , in so far as rectification renders it impossible to preserve the integrity and authenticity of records selected for permanent preservation in the Commission’s historical archives, without prejudice to the possibility of a supplementary statement or annotation to the record concerned, unless this proves impossible or involves disproportionate effort;
(c)
the obligation to notify the rectification or erasure of personal data ( 21 ) in so far as this proves impossible or involves disproportionate effort;
(d)
the right to object to the processing ( 22 ) , in so far as the personal data are contained in records selected for permanent preservation in the Commission’s historical archives as an integral and indispensable part of these records.
2. The Commission shall implement appropriate safeguards to ensure compliance with Article 13 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725. Such safeguards shall include technical and organisational measures, in particular, in order to ensure respect for the principle of data minimisation. The safeguards shall include:
(a)
the files to be transferred to the Commission’s historical archives shall be selected following a case-by-case assessment according to the Commission’s retention lists. All the other files, including structured personal data files, such as personal and medical files, shall be eliminated at the end of the administrative retention period;
(b)
the retention lists shall provide for the administrative elimination of certain types of records before the end of the administrative retention period. Consequently, these types of records shall not be processed for archiving purposes in the public interest;
(c)
prior to processing for archiving purposes in the public interest, the directorate-general or equivalent department shall report the potential presence of records covered by Article 2(1) of Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83 in the files to be transferred to the Commission’s historical archives;
(d)
before any Commission file is opened to the public, the Commission’s Historical Archives Service shall review it to verify the possible presence of records covered by the exceptions indicated in Article 2(1) of Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83, including on the basis of the signposting referred to in point (c) with the aim of protecting personal data.
3. The Commission shall record the reasons for derogations applied pursuant to this Decision. The record and, where applicable, the documents concerning the factual or legal context shall be registered. They shall be made available to the European Data Protection Supervisor on request.
4. The Data Protection Officer of the Commission shall be informed, as soon as possible of the application of derogations from data subject rights in accordance with this Decision. Upon request, the Data Protection Officer shall be provided with access to the associated records and any documents setting out the factual or legal context.
Deposit of the Commission’s historical archives at the EUI
1. The Commission’s Historical Archives Service shall provide the EUI, where possible, with access to digitised copies of records held in an analogue medium.
2. The EUI shall be the main access point to the Commission’s historical archives that are open to the public.
3. The Commission’s Historical Archives Service shall send the EUI descriptions of the archives deposited. In accordance with international standards and to facilitate the exchange of metadata, the Commission will promote interoperability between its archives systems and those of the EUI.
4. The EUI acts as a processor ( 23 ) in accordance with Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, under instructions from the Commission, which acts as the controller ( 24 ) of personal data contained in its historical archives, deposited at the EUI. The Commission’s Historical Archives Service provides, on behalf of the Commission, the necessary instructions for the processing of personal data contained in the Commission’s deposited archives by the EUI and monitors its performance.
5. Classified information shall not be deposited at the EUI.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
