檔案記載著機構的政策、決定、和活動，是機構極重要的資源。政府檔案更關乎社會管治和公民權益，故有需要加强管理，以確保檔案得到妥善記錄和保存，供日後取用、參考。世界不少國家和地區均有制定檔案法，而香港長久以來籍由行政指令、指引和刊物代替法例，規管政府檔案的管理。近年社會各界對制定檔案法的訴求益增，有見及此，香港法律改革委員會於2013年成立檔案法小組委員會，就此課題作深入研究。
日前（12月6日）小組委員會發表諮詢文件，就現行公共檔案管理制度是否需要改革，如認為需要的話，則採用何種改革方案為佳，諮詢公眾意見。文件中小組委員會研究數個司法管轄區的法律和作業方法，特別是澳大利亞、英格蘭、愛爾蘭、新西蘭和新加坡，臚列其觀察和初步看法外，還提出12條諮詢問題，例如檔案處的行政及運作、檔案移交檔案管理機關制度、公共檔案管理制度的涵蓋範圍等。
小組委員會初步認為有理據支持在香港制定檔案法，但實施上亦有難處，例如香港缺乏檔案管理專才、增加公務員工作量、處理電子檔案挑戰。諮詢文件未有提及疏忽處理政府文件的罰則；另外，對於應否涵蓋公共機構，因難以決定「公共機構」的範圍及公共機構是否已準備就緒，小組委員會建議可不時列舉應受規管的特定機構，及以「針對個別情況處理」方式監督其檔案管理情況。
諮詢期至2019年3月5日為止。
Records are vital resources of an organization and they document the policies, decisions, and activities, etc. Government records may contain importance information of governance and civil rights. For such records to maintain their value, they must be properly created and managed to ensure their authenticity and usability. Most of the countries or jurisdictions have archives legislation, and in contrast Hong Kong Government has been using administrative directives, guidelines and publications to regulate the management of Government. In response to the social urge of archives law legislation in recent years, the Archives Law Sub-committee of the Law Reform Commission was setup in 2013 to review the situation and make recommendation.
The Sub-committee has just released (6 December) the consultation paper to invite public views on whether reform of the current public records management regime is needed, and, if so, what kind of reform is to be preferred. The Sub-committee has studied the laws and practices of a number of jurisdictions, in particular, Australia, England, Ireland, New Zealand and Singapore, and has set out its observations and provisional views, as well as asked 12 consultation questions for instance the governance of the Government Records Service, and transfer of records to archival authority, and coverage of public records management regime, etc., to engage as much of the public as possible.
The Sub-committee’s provisional views are that there are considerations in favour of the enactment of an archives law in Hong Kong, but there are also practical concerns over its implementation, such as shortage of archives management professionals, workload pressures on civil servants, challenges of electronic records management, etc. The consultation paper does not mention the penalties for unauthorized destruction of public records. As regards the scope of public bodies to be covered, the Sub-committee considers a "bespoke" approach and to “enumerate from time to time specific bodies that should be subject to the public records management regime” since there is no universal approach on the definition of public bodies, and the individual circumstances of the public bodies must be carefully considered before imposing on them any uniform mandatory records management regime.
The consultation period will end on 5 March 2019.
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