National Archives of Iceland
Obligation to Submit
The obligation to submit is defined in Article 14(1) and (2):
The obligation to submit under this Act applies to:
The Office of the President of Iceland,
Supreme Court, National Court, District Courts and other legitimate courts,
The Icelandic Constitutional Council, as well as all administrative committees and institutions that are governingly under its jurisdiction, as well as the National Church,
Local authorities, as well as all institutions and committees in their behalf; the same applies to regional associations and other bodies responsible for the implementation of individual administrative tasks for cooperation between local authorities;
Non-profit organisations and funds established by law or on the basis of a legal authorisation for the purpose of performing public tasks in particular;
Administrative entities of a private nature if they have been empowered by law to take administrative decisions by state or municipal authorities in respect of documents that have arisen or entered their possession in respect of matters related to such decisions;
Private legal entities that have undertaken operational tasks by contract pursuant to Article 30 of the State Financial Accounts Act, or pursuant to Articles 100 and 101 of the Local Government Act, in respect of documents that have arisen in their possession or entered their possession as a result of the performance of such tasks.
The obligation to deliver applies furthermore to legal entities that are 51% or more owned by the public sector. The obligation to deliver applies to the district archives when the parties concerned are owned by municipalities that operate or are members of the district archives. In the event of a dispute regarding the obligation to deliver by legal entities, the National Archives of Iceland shall take a decision on the obligation to deliver.
The parties liable to deliver are all public institutions and offices of the state and municipalities as well as companies owned by the public sector, regardless of the form of operation, whether it is a limited company (hf.), a private limited company (ehf.) or a public limited company (ohf.). In addition, funds and non-profit organizations, which have been established by law to perform public tasks in particular, are the parties liable to deliver, along with administrative bodies of a private nature, if they have been given the power to take administrative decisions by the state or municipalities. Also, private legal entities, which have undertaken operational tasks by contract on the basis of law, are the parties liable to deliver.
Obligations of the submission parties
Delegated parties shall submit their archives for preservation to the National Archives of Iceland, or the district archives, as appropriate, in principle no later than when paper documents have reached the age of 30 and when electronic documents have reached the age of five, according to paragraph 1.
Furthermore, the submission parties are obliged to conduct their records management and records management accordingly. All submission parties shall familiarize themselves with these rules and comply with the instructions of the collection on the records management and records management of submission parties, respectively.
The director is responsible for the archiving and records management
The director of a person liable to deliver shall always be responsible for the archiving and records management of the person concerned, as a rule. The same applies to the chairman of the administrative committee and the director of a municipality, as well as to directors of non-profit organizations, funds and other entities to which this law applies, as a rule. The controller of the archiving and records management may not transfer that responsibility to a third party.
However, the controller may delegate the tasks related to the archiving and document management to individual employees. The responsibility for the archiving and document management of the person responsible for the delivery is always in the hands of the controller according to law.
Disclaimer
Please note that the information provided on this website has been translated using machine translation tools. While we strive for accuracy, the translated content may not fully reflect the original intent or meaning. The original content in Icelandic is considered the authoritative source and should be referenced for complete accuracy. Additionally, please be aware that this website is currently under construction and not all content has been translated yet. We appreciate your patience as we work to improve the website and its content. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us at upplysingar@skjalasafn.is.