Restriction of access to archives: objections of the rapporteur of the Council of State
Photo taken on October 29, 2001 in a room of the Historical Service of the Army (SHAT) at the Château de Vincennes, shelves where the historical documents collected on the Algerian war are archived.
AFP - DANIEL JANIN
Text by: Enola Richet
6 mins
The rapporteur of the Council of State delivered his conclusions in the debate on access to French public archives.
A collective of historians and archivists had seized on it concerning the regulatory text IGI 1300 which prevents the automatic declassification of archives over 50 years old.
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Its opinion is only advisory, but it is usually very influential.
For the rapporteur of the Council of State Alexandre Lallet, the need for declassification by the administrations concerned of sensitive archives more than 50 years old before they are opened to citizens
"
exists only in the mind
"
of the General Secretariat of Defense and of National Security (SGDSN).
► To read also: Terrorism-intelligence law and access to archives: "One step forward, one step back"
Responsible for pronouncing
"
in complete independence
" on the dispute raised by historians and proposing a solution before the deliberation of the Council of State, the rapporteur considered "
illegal
" the way in which the regulatory text IGI 1300 has been applied for two years. .
According to him, this application contravenes the principle of free communication of public archives, after the 50-year period set by the Heritage Code in 2008.
By proposing "
to abruptly cancel
" the application of the point of the text which concerns archives, the rapporteur agrees with the collective of historians and archivists "Access to public archives", which had seized the Council of State in January 2021. He denounces an obstacle to the freedom of researchers to document France's past, to exercise their activity and to hold the public authorities accountable for their actions.
►
To read also: Analysis - Access to sensitive archives: an increase in the obstacles which arouses controversy
Even more severe, the magistrate sees in the application of IGI 1300 a doctrine
"
Which seems to have been invented for the needs of the cause in 2010, when the government realized that the archives of the Algerian war would gradually fall into the public domain
"
.
An influence on parliamentary debate?
These conclusions could influence parliamentary debates, while the terrorism-intelligence law is being examined in committee in the Senate.
Article 19 of the bill, as voted by the Assembly in early June, admittedly wrongs the restrictive reading of IGI 1300, but introduces a new series of exceptions to the principle of automatic declassification of documents.
An article that creates new concerns within the community of historians, for whom "
the balance between opening and closing public archives
" promoted by the government in this law "
is only a sham, since the opening is only a reminder of the law already applicable and abused
”
by IGI 1300, “
while the closure is very real
”.
It validates the action that historians, archivists and jurists have undertaken for nearly two years.
This justifies their assertions which were that they were provisions which were contrary to the law, contrary to academic freedoms.
Pierre Mansat, president of the Josette association and Maurice Audin, member of the “Access to public archives” collective
Alexandre Lallet also refers to article 19 in his recommendations. While he admits that certain documents intended to be declassified may exceptionally contain "
information of great sensitivity
"
,
he proposes a framework of exceptions that is narrower than that proposed by the law, and specifies that only a document which "would
expose the France to a serious threat to national security
”should potentially be affected by access restrictions.
At the beginning of June already, the collective “Access to public archives” had tried to limit the restrictive effects of the bill by working with the group of Ecology, Democracy and Solidarity (EDS) deputies to amend the text, without success.
Historians are now counting on senators of all stripes, with whom the work of drafting amendments has already begun, to develop article 19 "
in a more protective sense of the fundamental right of access to public archives
" during examination of the text on June 29 and 30
.
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