Archives, Privacy and State Secrets

Abstract

This paper reviews the laws and norms regulating access to public documents in Spain, as well as their actual implementation in archival institutions and their consequences for historical research. Despite the liberal character of the early laws enacted in the democratic period, the publication of subsequent privacy regulations has severely curtailed access to historical documents. The vagueness and contradictions of the relevant norms, combined with the negligence typical of Spanish public archives, are posing greater burdens in researchers’ access to archival material. A situation worsened by the recent governmental decision to extend the scope of the State Secrets Act (Ley de Secretos Oficiales) to cover a number of issues relating to foreign policy. As a result, historians are finding more and more difficult the study of recent Spanish History.