This Act was enacted to refine the management of archives by the government, to promote public awareness and use of archives, and to optimize the functions of the archives.
Matters not provided for herein shall be governed by other applicable laws.

The terms in this Act are defined as follows：
(1)"The government agencies" shall mean the central government agencies and the local government agencies (hereinafter referred to as "the government agency")
(2)"Archives" shall mean written or non-written documents and records, including their attachments, which are kept in files and managed by the government agency.
(3)"National Archives " shall mean archives which are with permanent preservation value and have been transferred to the central archives authority-in-charge to be managed.
(4)"Government agency records" shall mean archives managed by the government agency.

The central archives authority-in-charge set up by the Executive Yuan shall govern matters relating to archives. Before such authority-in-charge is established, the Executive Yuan shall appoint an agency to exercise the aforesaid authority.
The aforesaid central archives authority-in-charge shall be established within two years of the promulgation of this Act.
The organization of the central archives authority-in-charge shall be enacted by law.
A National Archives management committee shall be established by the central archives authority-in-charge. The mission of the committee is to appraise and classify archives, determine retention periods of archives and settle related issues.

The government agency shall create a division or appoint personnel for the purpose of archives management. The government agency shall also prepare an annual archives management plan and budget.

Any transportation of archives abroad is prohibited unless approved by the relevant authority-in-charge.