Archives are information service providers. Unlike libraries, their subject matter is mainly that information, which is not intended for publication. For centuries it was the task of archives to preserve and protect this information as sovereign knowledge. Even today, archives hold information worthy of protection, personal data as well as that which is subject to the protection of secrets. And the preservation and protection of this information is still one of the core tasks of archives. In a democratic information society such as ours, however, unconditional access to this information is a valuable asset.
Archival laws harmonize the different demands made on the handling of the information contained in archival sources. The Federal Archives Act (Bundesarchivgesetz) applies to federal institutions, while the state archives acts (Landesarchivgesetze) apply to state authorities.
ARCHIVE REGULATION OF THE TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITÄT ILMENAU
The "Ordnung über die Sicherung und Nutzung von Archivgut der Universität - Archivordnung" of 08 February 2022 are based in their provisions on the Thuringian Archive Act.
In accordance with § 4a ThürArchivG, these regulations enable Technische Universität Ilmenau to maintain its own archives.
THURINGIAN ARCHIVES ACT
The Thuringian Archives Act (2018) provides the framework law for the work of the Ilmenau University Archives. It enables the Thuringian universities to maintain their own archives. (§ 4a ThürArchivG) Furthermore, it defines the tasks and responsibilities of the public archives of the state of Thuringia and anchors the right of access for everyone, taking into account the interests of third parties worthy of protection.
EU General Data Protection Regulation
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of 27 April 2016 serves to protect the fundamental rights of natural persons with regard to the processing and disclosure of personal data. However, to ensure that these rights do not collide with the regulations of national archiving law (e.g. with regard to the right to deletion), Section 89 makes an exception in favour of archiving in the public interest.
Thuringia Transparency Act
The Thuringian Transparency Act of 10 October 2019 regulates the right to information of the public administration for everyone. For Technische Universität Ilmenau, the law applies only to a limited extent (§ 2 para. 4 ThürTG). However, Thuringian archive law takes the idea of the Transparency Act into account by exempting archive records that were already made accessible before they were handed over to the archive from the protection period regulation (ThürArchivG § 17 para. 2).
Copyright and Related Rights Act
The Copyright Act of 9 September 1965 protects the creator's right to his intellectual works. In order to make archival materials protected by copyright accessible, the regulations of copyright law must be taken into account. The limitation regulations limit these rights in the context of personal use (Section 53 UrhG) and scientific research (Section 60c UrhG).