Letters | Why delay in passing Hong Kong archives law does not surprise

Delay would appear to be the default position for matters relating to government records and archives, when their management should be conducted within the framework of an archives law
Seven years since a subcommittee was set up to consider the need for legislation, the public is still waiting for its final report and recommendations

Accounting and auditing

Letters

Published: 6:45am, 6 May 2020

Why you can trust SCMP

That the Audit Commission laments the delay in implementing a strategy for the archiving of electronic records by government agencies in its latest report should come as no surprise (“Watchdog slams delays in official record-keeping” April 30).

Delay would appear to be the default position for matters relating to government records and archives. It is now seven years since the Law Reform Commission, at the request of the administration, established a subcommittee to consider the need for legislation for the management of government records and archives, and the public is still waiting for the subcommittee’s final report and recommendations.

Given that Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor included archives legislation in both her election manifesto and her policy address, one would have expected action on this issue to have progressed at a faster pace and with, by now, a substantive outcome.

Time to press ahead with archives law

It is not good enough for the director of administration, when faced with evidence of the failure of departments to meet administrative guidelines on archiving emails, to merely say that departments would be “reminded” to archive records within the appropriate time frame.

Failures of this nature demand a robust response. Had Esther Leung Yuet-yin had recourse to an archives law that set out mandatory requirements for government record keeping, enforceable by sanctions, it is unlikely that such a situation would have arisen. And had it done so, it could have been dealt with in a firm and effective manner.

Whether it is ensuring that Hong Kong government agencies meet international standards for website and social media archiving, or internal procedures for filing and retaining departmental correspondence, the management of government records and archives should be conducted within the framework of an archives law.

Hong Kong as a community deserves better from its government.

Don Brech, former director, Government Records Service

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