JozefHANUS*
Safety and Security in the Archives
* Slovak National Archives, Bratislava, Slovak Republic, hanus.jozef@sna.vs.sk
HANUS, Jozef, Safety and Security in the Archives. Atlanti, Vol. 18, Trieste 2008, pp. 115-127.
Original in English, abstract in English, Italian and Slovenian, summary in English
Descriptors; 2.1. climat, 2.2. environmental problems, 2.5.1. type of building and construction general, 3.1.2. archival storage, 3.2. office accommodation, 3.3.2. searchroom, 3.2.5. exhibition, 3.4. security and safety, 3.5.1. storage general, 9. standards
Safety and security are the principal requirements which must be executed without any doubt in all archives institutions. However, their application can be implemented at least in two levels - as legislative provisions on one hand and practical realisation on the other hand. Both levels are important and can cover either the overall and generalprovisions concerning location and construction of archives building itself, fire safety, safe and secure storage of archives, disaster planning, etc. Another field is safety and security of archival documents in the course of their use in search rooms by visitors but also the possible negative influence of light and climatic conditions in search rooms. The special case is safety and security of archives especially during transport and exhibitions. The paper inform about situation in the Slovak National Archives and
1.	Official Journal of the European Communities (2003/C113/2): The Council resolution of 6 May 2003.
2.	European Commission: Report on archives in the enlarged European Union — Increased archival cooperation in Europe: action plan. Elaborated by the National Experts Group on Archives of the EU member states and EU institutions and organs at the request of the Council of the European Union. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities 2006, 248 pp. ISBN 92-7900870-6.
INTRODUCTION
Safety and security are the principal requirements which must be executed without any doubt in all archives institutions. However, safety and security in the broadest sense of the word can cover very wide-ranging extent of problems - from the overall and general provisions concerning location and construction of archives building itself, fire safety, safe and secure storage of archives ensuring optimal climatic conditions, conservation and restoration processes, disaster planning, etc. Another field is safety and security of archival documents in the course of their use in search rooms by visitors but also the possible negative influence of light and climatic conditions in search rooms. The special case is their safety and security especially during transport and exhibitions.
Even The Council of the European Union points to these problems "with regard to the recent enlargement of the European Union increasing the number of Member States from 15 to 25 and in the light of the rapid changes in archival practice" in its resolution from 2003 and Council invites the Commission to convene a group of experts representative also of acceding countries, appointed on the proposal of the relevant national Authorities, to promote concrete activities, such as "the encouragement of appropriate measures to prevent damage to archives through catastrophes like flooding and to restore such documents and archives and to submit a report on this work, including orientations for increased future cooperation on archives at the European level, to the Council before the middle of 2004"1.
The International Council on Archives in its Report on Archives in the enlarged European Union2 responds to these tasks in following proposed priority actions:
Proposed Priority Action - Preservation and damage prevention for archives in Europe:
Measures for the prevention of damage to archives through natural and other catastrophes
- Develop a model action plan for preventing and recovering from catastrophes;
-	Explore the possibility for setting up specialised central laboratories for transborder emergencies;
-	Establish Rapid Response Teams for damage assessment.
Preservation and restoration of documents and archives:
-	reinforce co-ordination measures and exchange of expertise to establish an EU programme on the restoration of damaged documents and archives in Europe
-	Archives purpose buildings; standards and specifications at the national and European level to be updated and applied in the renewal of archival buildings and of repositories in government buildings or in new buildings by an interdisciplinary working group of the EU member states and institutions3.
Proposed Priority action - Theft of archival documents
Measures against theft of archival documents and the recovery of stolen archives in the EU should be examined and improved. It is also necessary to develop an action plan on the basis of a questionnaire with a view to proposing improvements4.
The respond to these proposed priority actions are concret actions proposed by the ICA experts from different fields and countries; they are devided into several sections and some of them are as follows:
In the section ARCHIVES AND THE EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS
1.	To set up a common training programme and/or courses for the Archives Services of the EU-Institutions and Organs.
2.	To ensure the adequate protection of the archival patrimony of the EUInstitutions and Organs against damage through natural and other catastrophes: flooding, earthquakes, terrorist attacks, security risks and other damaging events and to apply national and international recognized standards and specifications for the updating of their archival repositories and other archival storage rooms with regard to the preservation and access to documents and archives on paper, electronic and multi-media supports5.
In the section PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF ACCESS: READING ROOM STANDARDS
1.	To examine and coordinate proposed reading room standards for archives services throughout the European Union
2.	To co-ordinate measures preventing the theft of archival documents.
I. READING ROOM STANDARDS
f. Protection of original documents
Consulting original documents may damage them. There are a number of special measures which can be taken when visitors are working with original documents, such as writing with pencils only
'ix as well in this
some other archives of the Slovak as about some standards and fie^dt.
HANUS, Jozef, La sicurezza negli ar-chivi. Atlanti, Vol. 18, Trieste 2008, pp. 115-127.
La sicurezza il principale requisito da ottenere senza indugi in tutte le istituzioni archivistiche. Essapuo venir realiz^ata su due livelli - dal punto di vista legislativo da un lato e da quello pratico dall'altro. Ambedue i livelli sono importanti, epos-sono concernere sia le disposizioni di carattere generale riguardanti il luogo sia la costruzione degli edifici stessi da adibire ad archivio, nonche le caute-le antincendio, il sicuro immagazzinamento del materiale archivistico, la prevenzione di calamitä, ecc. Altro campo e quello della sicurezza del materiale archivistico stesso nel corso del suo utilizzo da parte dell'utenza in sala di lettura, oltre allapossi-bile influenza negativa delle condizioni di luce e climatiche delle sale stesse. Caso particolare, quello della sicurezza degli archivi negli eventi eccezionali di trasporto o di mostre. L'articolo da conto della situazione nell'Archivio Nazionale Slovacco ed in alcuni altri archivi della Repubblica Slovacca, e di standard e linee guida nel settore.
HANUS, Jozef, Varnost in zaščita v arhivih. Atlanti, Zv. 18, Trst 2008, str. 115-127.
Varnost in zaščita arhivskih dokumentov sta med osnovnimi pogoji, ki jih mora zagotoviti vsaka arhivska ustanova. Po drugi strani pa je res, da se srečamo s težavami, kako to zagotoviti, saj gre za dva nivoja: prvi je zakonodajni, ki nalaga dolžnosti, drugi pa je v praktični izvedbi, ki je odvisna od mnogih nalog in situacij. Pri varnosti in zaščiti arhivskih dokumentov sta pomembna oba nivoja, saj pokrivata celotno in splošno skrb, ki se nanaša na lokacijo in ustroj arhivskih zgradb, nadalje na varnost dokumentov in njihovo zaščito v arhivskih skladiščih, kakor tudi na predvidevanje katastrof. Po drugi strani pa gre tudi za varnost in zaščito dokumentovpri njihovi uporabi v čitalnicah, kjer gre za pravilno ravnanje z dokumenti po uporabnikih in za negativne pojave, ko se dokumenta-
3.	Ibid 2, p. XIV.
4.	Ibid 2, p. XVI.
5.	Ibid 2, p. 2..
cija sreča s svetlobo in klimatskimi razmerami, saj se oboje razlikuje, ker je v čitalnici drugačno kot v skladišču. Posebno pozornost moramo dokumentaciji posvečati pri prenašanju in pri izpostavljanju ob razstavah. V referatu nas avtor informira o stanju naštetega v arhivih slovaške republike, kakor tudi o nekaterih standardih in navodilih s tega področja.
SUMMARY
As safety and security are the principal requirements which must be executed without any doubt in all archives institutions the enormous effort and interest in preservation of archives can be observed from the European Union together with the International Council on Archives in this field. Many concrete provisions and actions are planned to be undertaken by the ICA and all EU countries in order to fulfill these requirements. The paperprovi-des basic information from this field and compares also new Slovak archival legislation with these requirements. New Slovak archival legislative provisions — the Act no. 39512002 on Archives and Registries and on the Amendments of Certain Ac^s adop^d on 17 May 2002 and the Regulation no. 628 of the Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic from 29 October 2002 by which some provisions of the Act on Archives and Registries are executed — with the effect from January 1, 2003, replaced the o^d A^ct from 1975. Selec^d articles illustrate the main goals, changes and the scope of their application in the field of preservation, safety and security. Apart from other things, the new adopted legal provisions provide an excellent basis for quality improvement also in the field of archives preservation. Theirpractical application in real life, however, will need a lot of effort, energy andfinancial support in order to meet all the requirements given by the law.
or using a laptop and wearing gloves. Also more and more archives services are excluding fragile or widely used documents from consultation in the reading room and are instead providing a user copy on microfilm. Apart from these measures attention should also be gives to climate in the reading rooms.
It would improve the awareness of the importance of long term preservation of documents if the same rules were generally used in all reading rooms in the European Union.
II. MEASURES AGAINST THEFT
More and more archival documents have a commercial value and although most archives services have improved their safety measures, theft remains a serious problem. There are several reasons for this phenomenon. On the one hand there is the considerable increase in the number and the nature of the readers using archive material over recent decades. On the other hand, the market value attained by such documents encourages criminality. The prices realised by certain documents at public auctions can only encourage the development of a trade in autographs now that they have an investment value.
In addition, in recent years, specialist networks have developed. These networks whose existence has only just come to notice, bring together thieves, receivers of stolen goods, and professionals of doubtful reputation who can provide a commercial outlet for documents removed from public collections. Recent cases have shown that the theft of documents, clearly listed as being in public archive services, can be carried out to order for corrupt professionals.
a.	Reading r^oom security
It is possible to make improvements in security by means of appropriate reading room architecture and stricter security measures. Apart from asking for proof of identity from all visitors and providing duplicates instead of original documents, there are various precautionary measures that can be taken in reading rooms like camera observation, not allowing bags or folders in the reading room, providing the visitors with special paper, weighing the amount of paper taken in and out of the reading room (but note that the weight of paper can vary depending on the environment conditions), etc.
It is recommended that visitors always identify themselves with their archives card (with photograph) when getting documents and that careful registration of all requests for consultation of documents is kept, so that even after a longer time it is clear which documents were consulted by which visitor. Reading room staff should keep close observation. A detailed description of archival holdings is helpful when proof of ownership of stolen documents has to be given.
b.	Pr^evention of theft and ill^egal tr^ade of ar^chival documents
For the prevention of theft there are a number of measures that can be taken, such as:
- an obligation for antiques dealers to keep a register of their objects and the provenance of these;
-	a request that notaries report the existence and whereabouts of (important) private archives, found in heritages;
-	the formation of a specialised police force, as already exists in certain countries;
-	the monitoring of catalogues of antiques sales;
-	registration of the consultation of valuable archives in reading rooms of archives services;
-	immunity for bona fide people who have come into possession of stolen archives and bring these back to the archives service.
It is urgently recommended that a comparative study of the effectiveness of the various measures is carried out. Between archives and libraries the exchange of information on theft and thieves can be improved.
A special danger threatens private archives, which are not always meant to be kept in public archives services. In some countries there is a market for trade in private archives. At these antiques fairs also documents stolen from public archives can found.
The struggle against illegal traffic in old documents whether at national or at European level has scarcely begun. Experience with various reclaiming processes, for instance those by the Directorate of French Archives, show the current lack of preparedness of most archive services when faced with a theft or with the need to make a claim.
It would appear from recent experience that national archival administrations have only limited means at their disposal for the recovery of these constituent parts of their national heritage. In practice these documents, even if they are of an indisputably public nature cannot be reclaimed if they are put up for sale abroad. Even though the European Union directive allows the exercise of such a claim in the case of documents which left their land of origin after 1993, it would seem practically impossible to determine as a matter of fact the date on which the document left the country, except in the case of obvious theft.
The danger is that in order to avoid the process of claim in the country of origin, unscrupulous traders will put documents up for sale abroad, and that this practice will expand for lack of means on the part of archive administrations to do anything about it.
c. European co-operation
It is desirable and even urgent in these circumstances that there should be Europe wide coordination in drawing public attention to such practices, so as to enable countries to regain possession of heritage items which have been removed from public collections.
This co-operation could include the following elements:
-	a sharing of precise information about arrangements in place in each member state of the Union for reclaiming such material,
-	creating a European database of stolen documents, comparable
6. Ibid 2, p. 109-114.
7. Ibid 2, p. 150.	res.
to the database of stolen works of art,
-	greater co-ordination between archive services, and judicial and police authorities so as to counter the setting up of networks of receivers,
-	a collective approach to the different governments in Europe with a view to drawing their attention to this worrying situation, and to investigating ways in which the national heritage can be better protected6.
In the section MEASURES TO PREVENT DAMAGE TO ARCHIVES BY NATURAL AND OTHER CATASTROPHES
1.	To follow up the Declaration of the 25 Countries, agreed at the meeting of the National Archivists in Athens in June 2003, on measures for damage prevention to archives in Europe.
2.	To reinforce coordination measures and the exchange of expertise in order to establish a European Protection and Rescue Programme on damage prevention and restoration of damaged documents and archives in Europe.
3.	To set out a concise description of this European Protection and Rescue Programme and the relevant action plan, including specialist staff, technical workshops and specific equipment. A tentative estimate would be € 2,8 million over 3 years. Future orientations:
4.	To establish Rapid Response Teams for damage assessment and other relevant measures.
5.	To examine the possibilities for setting up specialist central laboratories for transborder emergency interventions in the case of damage to documents and archives, brought about by catastrophes such as flooding, earthquakes, terrorist attacks, war disasters, security risks and other damaging events7.
In the section PRESERVATION AND RESTORATION OF DOCUMENTS AND ARCHIVES
1.	To reinforce coordination measures and exchange of expertise in order to establish an European Protection and Rescue Programme, with particular reference to the restoration of damaged documents and archives in Europe.
2.	To compile an agreed set of standards and specifications for archives propose buildings, with particular reference on measures on the authenticity, long term preservation and accessibility of electronic documents and archives.
Future orientations:
3.	To develop a model action plan for preventing and recovering from catastrophes: to examine the possibilities for setting up specialised central laboratories for trans-boarder emergency interventions in the case of damage to archives through catastrophes, such as flooding, earthquakes, terrorist attacks, war disasters, security risks and other damaging events; and options for the establishment of Rapid Response Teams for damage assessment and other relevant measu-
4.	To carry out a study on the impact of climate variations on the preservation of documents and archives in Europe.
5.	To carry out a study on the restoration of damaged documents and archives on paper, electronic and multi-media support.
6.	To examine special measures on security storage of documents and archives.
Despite the preservation and restoration of archives covers very broad range of activities, the common effort of countries in the enlarged European Union should be concentrated especially on the following topics:
1.	Co-ordination of conservation treatment of archives damaged in disasters, risk analysis and disaster planning
2.	Proper storage conditions and safety of archives as fundamental requirements for their preservation8.
In the section ARCHIVE PURPOSE BUILDINGS: STANDARDS AND SPECIFICATIONS AT THE NATIONAL AND EUROPEAN LEVEL
1.	To set up an interdisciplinary Working Group, comprising archivists, architects, engineers and geologists, with the remit of establishing and developing standards and specifications for the construction of new archive purpose buildings. Approximately 8 meetings of the interdisciplinary Working Group would be needed in order to establish standards and a typical/modular schedule of specifications for new archive purpose buildings. A detailed project plan is in preparation.
2.	To devise regulatory procedures for the application of these standards and specifications at the national and European levels, covering security and protection against flooding, earthquakes, terrorist attacks, war disasters and other damaging events.
Future orientations:
3.	To investigate ways in which these standards and specifications should be applied to the updating of existing archive buildings and/ or other archival accommodation in government buildings.
4.	To ensure that the interdisciplinary Working Group provides regular feedback and progress reports to the proposed official Archivists Committee of the EU-Member States and EU -Institutions.
5.	Publication of the standards and schedule of specifications for new archives purpose buildings in the different official languages of the European Union9.
The special case is safety and security of archives especially during transport and exhibitions. These problems are particularly solved at many conferences and dealt with in several standards and guidelines"
,10,11,12,13,14,15
However, their application of all the above mentioned problems can be implemented at least in two levels - as legislative provisions on one hand and practical realisation on the other hand. Both
8.	Ibid 2, p. 154-158.
9.	Ibid 2, p. 164.
10.	Hanus, J.: Exhibition of Archival Documents and Legislation (A Survey of International Legislative Provisions). International symposium "Exhibiting Archival and Library Materials and Work of Art on Paper: Standards in Preservation". Ljubljana, Slovenia, June 5-6, 2003. ISBN 961-6137-76-X. National and University Library Ljubljana, Proceedings 2004, p. 195 - 204.
11.	ISO 11799: Information and Documentation - Document storage requirements for archive and library materials.
12.	British Standard BS 5454:2000 Recommendations for the storage and exhibition of archival documents.
13.	Norme NF Z 40-010 Prescriptions de conservation des documents graphiques et photo-graphiques dans le cadre d'une exposition. AF-NOR Juin 2002.
14.	Guidelines on exhibiting Archival Materials. ICA Committee on Preservation of Archives in Temperate Climates (CPTE, 20022006). ICA 2007.
15.	ANSI/NISO Z39.79-2001. Environmental Conditions for Exhibiting Library and Archival Materials.
16. http://www.civil.gov.sk/snarchiv/archiv- dy na_legislativa.htm	^
levels are important and and closely connected.
The following part of the paper provides a brief insight how some of these items are dealt with in the Slovak archival legislation. With effect from January 1, 2003, the Slovak Republic has a new archival legislation - the Act no. 39512002 on Archives and Registries and on the Amendments of Certain A^cl^s, which was adopted by the National Council of the Slovak Republic on 17 May 2002 and the Regulation no. 628 of the Ministry of Interior of the Sl^ovak Republic fr^om 29 October 2002 by which somepr^ovisions of the Act on Ar^chives and Registries ar^e executed16.
The Act no. 395/2002 on Archives and Registries and on the Amendments of Certain Acts from May 17, 2002
Article 6
Rights and obligations of the founder of archives
(3) Founders of archives shall be obliged: ^
d) to locate the archives in premises that ensure the protection of archival documents and allow access to archival documents;
(5) The application for approval concerning the establishment of archives shall contain:
a)	Name and surname, address of permanent residency of a physical person or the name, seat and identification number of a egal person that represents the founder of the archives;
b)	Records demonstrating that:
3.	the archives will be located in premises ensuring the protection of archival documents;
4.	the archives have sufficient premises necessary for access to archival documents;
5.	the founder of the archives is able to financially provide the activity of the archives so that the archives may perform its tasks pursuant to this act.
ACCESS TO ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTS Article 12
Conditions for access to archival documents
(1) Everyone shall be allowed to access the archival documents located in archives and the archival information system (hereinafter referred to as "access to archival documents"), if not otherwise stipulated by this act.
(3) Archives shall only submit an original of an archival document for its study in exceptional cases, whilst it shall always submit a copy of an archival document, if:
a) it concerns an archival document created before 1526; ^
c)	any damage or possibility of damage could occur upon its stu-
Exports, import and r^eturn of ar^chival documents ar^e established as a special pr^ocess in accor^dance with existing Eur^opean stan^ar^s.
Protection and preservation of archives and registries
They belong to the main activities of all archives institutions, the tasks and activities in this field are also strongly stressed in the Act and the following Regulation as public interest.
Article 2 Definitions
(8) Protection of archival documents shall mean a complex of specialised activities intended for their preservation and protection against theft and destruction.
(10) Conservation copy of an archival document (hereinafter referred to as "conservation copy"), shall mean a copy of an archival document that is usually saved on microfilm in order to preserve the information that the archival document contains.
Article 3
Basic provisions
(1)	Archival heritage shall form an integral part of the cultural heritage of the Slovak Republic. The state shall be obliged to provide for the preservation of archival heritage and everyone shall be obliged to provide collaboration17 to the state with respect to it.
(2)	The Acquisition of archival documents, protection of archival documents, their processing and access to the information contained in archival documents, shall be subject to public interest.
Article 7 Archives obligations
An archive shall be obliged: c) to protect archival documents;
h)	to develop a program for the execution of conservation copies and inform the Slovak National Archives about this program;
i)	to provide and send one issue of the conservation copy of the most significant archival documents to the Slovak National Archives.
The A^ct conl^ains al^so a str^ong r^equir^ementfor r^ecor^d and r^egistry (r^eators concerning use of appr^opriate permanent paper (ISO 9706) and inks to be used in formation of r^ecor^^s which can potentiality become ar^chival documents and their protection.
17. Article 44 par. 2 of the Constitution of the Slovak Republic. Declaration of the National Council of the Slovak Republic on the protection of cultural heritage (Decree of the National Council of the Slovak Republic No. 91/2001 Coll. of Laws 23). For example, Article 11 of the Civil Code. Act No. 71/1967 Coll. on administrative proceedings (the Code of Administrative Procedure), as amended by Act No. 215/2002 Coll. of Laws. Article 7 par. 3 letter a) of Act No. 52/1998 Coll. of Laws on the protection of personal data. Act No.599/2001 Coll. of Laws on the verification of deeds and signatures on deeds by district offices and municipalities, Act of the Slovak National Council No. 323/1992 Coll. on notaries and notary activity (Notarial Procedures), as amended. For example, Act of the National Council of the Slovak Republic No. 46/1993 Coll. of Laws on the Slovak Information Service, as amended, Act of the National Council of the Slovak Republic No. 171/1993 Coll. of Laws on the Police Forces, as amended, Act of the National Council of the Slovak Republic No. 198/1994 Coll. of Laws on Military Intelligence. Article 250l to 250s of the Code of Civil Procedures. Act No. 36/1967 Coll. on experts and interpreters, as amended by Act No. 238/2000 Coll. of Laws.
Registries
Article 16
Rights and obligations of a registry creator
(2) A creator of a registry shall be obliged:
c) to provide for the stability of a registry record; if a registry record is made on paper, the paper has to comply with requirements specified by a technical standard;
e) to locate the registry in premises that guarantee its preservation;
The Regulation no. 628 of the Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic from 29 October 2002 by which some provisions of the Act on Archives and Registries are executed
In Its second part "PROTECTION / PRESERVATION OF ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTS AND REGISTRY RECORDS" ^he
above mentioned R^egul^ation specifies in ^el^ail^s the subject and types of pr^eserva-tion, protection as wel^l as r^ooms and stor^age space of ar^chives and differ^entpr^e-cautions connected with them.
Article 16 Subject of Preservation
(1) Preservation of archival document kept in the archives comprise activities and provisions to its preservation and protection against theft and destruction / damage caused by
a)	its formation on a carrier which does not enable its preservation,
b)	placing of archives in the space (premises) which does not meet the requirements of this regulation,
c)	handling,
d)	fire.
e)	water,
f)	degradation factors,
g)	exhibiting.
Article 17 Types of preservation
(1)	Protection of archival document against damage is ensured by preventive preservation, conservation and restoration.
(2)	Preventive preservation is
a) Formation of registry record on a carrier, which shall ensure its permanence;
material of protective cover, in which a registry record is kept, must eliminate damaging effects of external degradation factors as
much as possible,
b)	careful and proper handling,
c)	location of archives and register centre in such premises which follow the requirements of this Regulation,
d)	control of storage conditions, given in this Regulation, as temperature, relative humidity of air, optical radiation, dust, microbiological contamination and biological agents,
e)	continual checking of physical condition of archival documents and registry records,
^ no admission of non-authorised person into premises where archival documents and registry records are kept,
h) formation of "conservation" and "study" copy of archival document.
(3)	Conservation is a complex of procedures, technologies and ways for ensuring of integrity and stabilisation of content and physical condition of archival document as well as procedures for elimination and minimization of degradation effects causing its damage.
(4)	Restoration is a complex of procedures, technologies and ways for reconstruction of original condition and improvement of physical condition of damaged archival document.
Article 18 Protection against theft
(1) Protection of archival documents against thefts is ensured by iron grills on windows and doors of archives which are accessible from outside or - if the archives is a part of a shared building - on windows and doors accessible from inside of the building or by electronic security system or by security service.
Article 19 Rooms of the archives
(1)	Archives is placed in rooms / space / premises which served exclusively for that purpose.
(2)	Archives cannot be placed in the building located on the spot which could endanger physical condition of archival documents, where dangerous chemicals are stored, on the spot with increased risk of fire, high level of underground water or high risk of floods or potential risk of industrial accident.
(6) Storage spaces are buildings or rooms served exclusively for long-term storage of archival documents. They are built from materials ensuring stabile values of temperature and relative humidity against external climatic influences. Materials used for surface finishing of rooms and equipment must be non-flammable, they must not release volatile compounds endangering archival documents, dust and other chemical compounds.
Minimal loading of horizontal construction for stabile shelves
is 10,0 kN/m2 and 14,0 kN/m2 for compact shelves. Storage rooms must be equipped with stabile or mobile metal shelves. Electrical wiring and water piping are placed in storage rooms only exceptionally; gas pipes cannot be placed in these rooms. Entrance of direct daylight must be restricted in storage rooms and effective ventilation provided.
Article 21
Handling
(1a) should be restricted to minimum
c)	archival documents should be stored in appropriate covers of a proper size and shape, produced from material meeting the requirements of this Regulation
d)	techniques and processes for producing of conservation and study copies of archival documents must not endanger their physical condition
(3)	Conservation copy is stored in different place from original.
(4)	For transport of archival document special protective cases must be used.
Article 22 Fire precautions
(1)	Archives and registries centres are equipped exclusively with mobile fire extinguishers or stable equipment containing such extinguishing material using of which minimise as much as possible damage of physical condition of archival documents and registry records. Their number is given by a national standard. Doors of storage rooms must air-tightly close the storage space and insulated it at least for 30 minutes from outside fire and must be full without any holes;
(2)	It is forbidden to smoke, manipulate with open fire and store flammable materials in archival and registry rooms;
(3)	Archival and registry rooms are protected by fire signaliza-
tion.
Article 23 Protection against water
If it is inevitable to place in storage rooms or immediately above them water pipes or water central heating pipes, it is necessary to protect and ensure them in such a way that their incidental damage must not cause any harm to archival documents or registries stored inside the rooms.
One of the most important articl^es within the R^egulation is Articl^e 24 defining the most important external and inl^ernal degradation factors (physical, chemicals, microbiol^ogical) which may cause deterior^ation of physical conditions of ar^chival documents and deals with pr^otection against them.
Article 24 Protection against degradation factors
(1)	Degradation factors are distinguished as external and internal ones. External degradation factors are physical - especially heat, humidity, optical radiation, dustiness; chemical - especially oxides of sulphur, oxides of nitrogen and ozone from air pollution, or biological ones - especially microbiological contamination and biological agents as moulds, insects and rodents. Internal degradation factors result from material nature of archival documents and the way of their formation or preparation and production of information carriers.
(2)	In order to exclude or minimise detrimental effect of degradation factors, the values of temperature and relative humidity are continuously or at least twice a week, recorded and evaluated. The allowed temperature is 16oC ± 2oC and relative humidity of air 50 % ± 5 %.
(3)	Illumination in storage areas is limited to the time which is inevitable to take out and to store archival documents. If direct light or other source of illumination contains a part of ultraviolet radiation exceeding value of 75 ^W/lm (microwatt per lumen), ultraviolet filters eliminating radiation of the wave length below 400 nm must be used.
For illumination of archives and exhibition areas light sources of the following intensity are used
a)	up to 300 lx in the search room,
b)	up to 200 lx in storage areas,
c)	up to 50 lx in exhibition areas.
(4)	Dustiness in storage areas is decreased by mechanical and technical means. Number of dust particles on air in storage areas must not exceed the value of 50 ^.g/m3.
Exhibitions are powerful tool for communication with a l^arge public and enabl^e to attractpeopl^e by displaying selected attr^active ar^chival documents. They shoul^d be educational and enjoyabl^e. Exhibiting wor^ks of art or artefacts, espe-cial^ly the unique, the r^ar^e, and the wonder^ul^, is an imporl^ant part of the educational mission of many institutions. It is al^so an effective way of attr^acting the attention and support of the public. Although exhibition can complicate or even compr^omise pr^eservation efforts, it is near^ly impossibl^e to avoid exhibiting original documents. Ther^efor^e it is inevil^abl^e to l^ak^e and apply some measur^es and pr^ecautions to minimise risk or their damage - especial^ly by the influence of light and humidity - in thepr^ocess of exhibition.
Article 25
Protection of archival documents in the course of exhibition
(1) Archival documents are exhibited in closed dust-proof showcases. The total value of illumination must not exceeded 18 000 lux.hours/year for documents containing inks, dyes and light sensitive pigments. Temperature in showcases is within the range 16oC to 20oC and relative humidity from 45 % to 55 %.
Conservation and restoration treatment of archival documents are inevitable part of their active preservation which ar^e pr^o^^ed by specialised wor^kpl^aces. Ar^chival ^ocumenl^s cannot be tr^eated by conservation and resl^or^ation pr^ocesses outside the ne^wor^k of state ar^chives system. The R^egul^ation contains the basic rul^es al^so for this field of wor^k.
CONCLUSION
As safety and security are the principal requirements which must be executed without any doubt in all archives institutions the enormous effort and interest in preservation of archives can be observed from the European Union together with the International Council on Archives in this field. Many concrete provisions and actions are planned to be undertaken by the ICA and all EU countries in order to fulfill these requirements. The paper provides basic information from this field and compares also new Slovak archival legislation with these requirements.
New Slovak archival legislative provisions - the Act no. 395/2002 on Archives and Registries and on the Amendments of Certain Acts adopted on 17 May 2002 and the Regulation no. 628 of the Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic from 29 October 2002 by which some provisions of the Act on Archives and Registries are executed - with the effect from January 1, 2003, replaced the old Act from 1975.
Selected articles illustrate the main goals, changes and the scope of their application in the field of preservation, safety and security. Apart from other things, the new adopted legal provisions provide an excellent basis for quality improvement also in the field of archives preservation. Their practical application in real life, however, will need a lot of effort, energy and financial support in order to meet all the requirements given by the law.