The Executive Yuan plans to prioritize a proposed political data act (政治檔案條例) in the next legislative session and require government agencies to complete a survey of all political documents — including those from during the Martial Law era — within six months of the act’s implementation, sources said yesterday.
This would allow documents that have been verified as political documents to be sent to the national archives, the sources said.
To allow the government to gather political documents held by different agencies, political parties and civil groups — such as those from the Martial Law era that involve the violation of human rights — Premier William Lai (賴清德) has reportedly instructed the National Development Council (NDC) to draft a political data act that contains the qualities of a special law.
The instruction was made after the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例) passed its third reading in the Legislative Yuan on Dec. 5.
The proposal is reportedly to say that when necessary, government agencies can request that the National Archives Administration (NAA) approve a six-month extension if the agencies are unable to complete the surveying and cataloging of political documents within a six–month period due to the large volume of material to be processed.
The NAA is to also reportedly set clear guidelines for political documents held by political parties, party-affiliated organizations or party-run institutions that the transitional justice promotion committee believes should be transferred to the national archives.
For such documents, where there is no conflict between the committee, the NAA and the group holding the documents, the documents are to be transferred to the national archives and become historical sources to be turned into records, sources said.
The handover of the documents will be completed in a way to avoid controversy, sources said.
President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration is reportedly pushing for the legislation to publicize crucial documents from the White Terror era, the 228 Incident and other events and material.
The NAA is reportedly to work to complete a draft of the act for the Executive Yuan for review before the Lunar New Year holiday.
All government agencies would be required to follow new guidelines and cooperate with the drive to transfer political documents to the archives if the law is passed, an unnamed government official familiar with the matter said.
Those who do not cooperate in the tranfer of documents, or hide or destroy the documents, could face punishment under the Archives Act (檔案法), the official added.
Article 24 of the Archives Act states that anyone who destroys archives that they know should not be destroyed should be punished by a maximum fine of NT$50,000 in lieu of or in addition to a maximum of two years’ imprisonment.
The council reportedly invited representatives from the National Security Bureau, Academia Historica, Judicial Yuan, Academia Sinica, political victim groups and human rights advocacy groups to discuss the proposed law on Jan. 10.
Human rights advocacy groups have voiced concerned about personal data, the sources said.
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