EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Statutory Rules 1990 No. 184
Archives Regulation No.8 (Amendment)
(Issued under the authority of the Minister of State for Community Services and Health for and on behalf of the Minister of State for Administrative Services)
Section 71 of the Archives Act 1983 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing charges to be levied by the Australian Archives for the keeping of and making available records which do not form part of the archival resources of the Commonwealth.
The Government has reviewed the provision of services by the Archives to Commonwealth institutions and has decided that charges should be levied for services on records of shorter-term value where the imposition of such charges would improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the management of government records. The proposed amendment of Regulation 8 will establish those charges for Commonwealth institutions for the storage and related servicing of shorter-term value records. The amendment will also empower the Archives to waive or reduce charges made under the Regulation where it would be in the public interest to do so.
The Archives also stores and services for the Department of Primary Industries and Energy petroleum exploration records which are made available for loan to petroleum exploration companies. The proposed amendment of Regulation 8, agreed to by the Department, will establish charges to recover from the industry a part of the cost of providing this loan service, in accordance with the “user-pays” principle.
The opportunity has also been taken to update Schedule 2 of the Regulation so that it will conform to recent changes in the names and statuses of the Commonwealth institutions listed in it.
The amended Regulation will come into effect from 1 July 1990.