Pilot Project on Electronic Archiving, Implemented with the Assistance of the EU Project Pravo-Justice Was Presented to the Public

On August 9, the presentation of the pilot project for the introduction of the electronic archive and the creation of appropriate conditions for permanent storage of electronic documents of the National Archive Fund and state electronic information resources took place. The pilot has been implemented by the Ministry of Justice, the State Archive Service of Ukraine, and the Ministry of Digital Transformation together with the EU Project Pravo-Justice, and other partners.

It is about the development of the specialized module “Archives” of the apparatus of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine and the modernization of the system “Electronic Archive Systems (ELARSYS)”.

“The pilot implementation of the MoJ electronic archive is an important stage in the implementation of paperless document circulation technologies in Ukraine. It is aimed at introducing technologies for the accumulation, accounting, and storage of archived electronic documents, and use of information within Ukraine’s archival bodies system. It will significantly simplify access to archived documents, in the first place; it will simplify the processes and will provide proper conditions for permanent storage of documents,” said Valerii Bakal, Senior National Expert of the E-Justice Component, Institutional Development and Coordination Lead, EU Project Pravo-Justice, at the project presentation in the premises of Ukrinform.

He also added that the reform implying the introduction of electronic document flow is currently underway in Ukraine; and the war should rather be an incentive, than an obstacle.

“Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, we could certainly feel the main advantage of transferring document flow from paper to digital format. For instance, when some part of Sumy Oblast was under occupation, it is due to the fact that all regional units of the Ministry of Justice had previously switched to a digital format that it was possible to ensure the continuity of their operation and to preserve all the documents,” added Valerii Bakal.

In his turn, Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine for Digital Development, Digital Transformations and Digitization Serhii Orlov informed that the Ministry of Justice transferred annually some 1,200 files with paper documents to the state archive – approximately 240,000 A4-format sheets. In addition, certified paper copies of such documents are also produced for permanent and long-term storage of documents created in electronic form.

“We have created all the conditions for archival documents to be accumulated, accounted for, and stored in electronic form. In addition, this entire process will be automated. So, now one will be able to find the necessary archived information in just a few clicks, instead of rummaging through piles of paper documents.” noted Serhii Orlov.

Anatolii Khromov, Head of the State Archive Service of Ukraine, also spoke at the presentation of the pilot project. He stated that the module of such an e-archive has already been tested in the electronic document management system ASKOD; namely, separate packages of electronic documents drafted in the Ministry of Justice have been created and transferred for archival storage to the archive of the Ministry of Justice and to the Central State Audiovisual and Electronic Archive.

“Implementation of the pilot project “e-Archive” will make it possible to archive electronic documents in government bodies and will create appropriate conditions for the permanent storage and use of electronic documents of the National Archives Fund (so-called “born digital documents”) and state information electronic resources, said Anatoli Khromov.

It should be noted that the next step in implementing the project is scaling it up to all Ukrainian authorities, and later on – to other organizations.