PŘÍSTUPNOST VEŘEJNÝCH DOKUMENTŮ A OCHRANNÉ ARCHIVNÍ LHŮTY VE SPOJENÉM KRÁLOVSTVÍ. INSPIRACE PRO ČESKÉ ARCHIVNICTVÍ
THE ACCESSIBILITY OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS AND THEIR CLOSURE PERIOD IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. INSPIRATION FOR THE CZECH ARCHIVAL SCIENCE

Summary/Abstract: The paper is focused on analysis of the specific topic of closure periods as these are applied to the public documents before making them accessible to general audience, based on the example of the United Kingdom since the end of WW II. It tries to prove that during the time it comes to gradual mitigation of the originally restrictive regime in the access to public documents and historical sources, not only in the United Kingdom. In the United Kingdom, there was a very long closure period in force since 1958 that made inaccessible materials of public provenience. Beginning in 1968, the cabinet of Harold Wilson reduced the period by almost a half from 50 to 30 years. This decision was influenced by the special advisory committee (Advisory Council on National Records and Archives), but also by the policy of the president of the USA John F. Kennedy. An important break in the regime of accessibility of public documents came with an adoption of act on free access to information in 2005 that newly regulated the issue of access to information. This act first stipulated a period for making public historical documents – regardless the place of preservation, either in archives or still in the administration – for 30 years that was reduced in 2010 to 20 years. This period is valid in the United Kingdom till today.

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