Laws of the People's Republic of China

    The 20th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eighth National People's
Congress has decided to make the following amendments to the Archives Law of
the People's Republic of China:

    1. The second paragraph of Article 16 is amended as: "Owners of the
archives prescribed in the preceding paragraph may deposit them with or sell
them to state archives centres. If they sell them to any other unit or
individual than state archives centres, such a sale shall be subject to the
approval of the administrative authorities for archives under the people's
governments at or above the county level in accordance with the relevant
provisions. It shall be strictly forbidden to resell such archives for profit,
or sell them or present them as gifts to foreigners."

    2. Add a new paragraph to Article 17 as its second paragraph: "The
detailed procedures for the transfer of archives of a state-owned enterprise
or institution at the time of the transfer of its assets shall be formulated
by the state administrative authority for archives."

    3. The second paragraph of Article 19 is amended as: "Archives centres
shall periodically publish a catalogue of archives which are accessible to the
public, and shall create the conditions, simplify the procedures, and provide
conveniences for the use of archives."

    4. Article 24 is amended as: "In the event of any of the following acts,
the administrative authorities for archives under the people's governments at
or above the county level and the competent department shall impose
disciplinary sanctions upon the person in charge directly responsible or other
persons directly responsible; and he who commits an act which constitutes a
crime shall be investigated for criminal responsibility according to law:

    (1) damaging or losing state-owned archives;

    (2) supplying, copying, making public or destroying state-owned archives
without authorization;

    (3) altering or forging archives;

    (4) in violation of the provisions of Article 16 or 17 of this Law,
selling or transferring archives without authorization;

    (5) reselling archives for profit, or selling archives or presenting them
as gifts to foreigners;

    (6) in violation of the provisions of Article 10 or 11 of this Law,
failing to file archives according to provisions, or failing to hand over
archives on schedule;

    (7) taking no measures while fully aware of archives preserved being in
danger, thus causing losses to the archives; or

    (8) causing losses to archives as a result of neglect of duty on the part
of archivists.

    "If anyone who uses archives of archives centres commits any of the
unlawful acts prescribed in item 1, 2 or 3 of the preceding paragraph, the
administrative authorities for archives of the people's governments at or
above the county level shall give him a warning and may concurrently impose a
fine; and he who causes losses shall be ordered to compensate for them.

    "If an enterprise, institution or individual commits any of the unlawful
acts prescribed in item 4 or 5 of the first paragraph, the administrative
authorities for archives of the people's governments at or above the county
level shall give the violator a warning and may concurrently impose a fine;
the unlawful gains, if any, shall be confiscated; and archives sold and
presented as gifts may be requisitioned by purchase in accordance with the
provisions of Article 16 of this Law."

    5. Add a new article as Article 25: "If anyone carries or transports out
of the country archives or their duplicates that are forbidden to be taken out
of the country, the Customs shall confiscate them and may concurrently impose
a fine; archives or their duplicates confiscated shall be handed over to the
administrative authorities for archives; and he who commits an act which
constitutes a crime shall be investigated for criminal responsibility
according to law."

    This Decision comes into force on the date of promulgation.