Posted on 15 April 2020
A project was launched in 2018 by the Historical Archives of the European Union (HAEU) and the Historical Archives Service of the Commission (SAH) to implement a new archival file plan to the two holdings of the European Commission deposited at the HAEU. The first of the two current holdings is called ‘BAC’ fonds, which stands for Brussels Archives of the Commission and gathers the archives of the European Economic Commission and Euratom since 1957. The second holding CEAB (Commission européenne, Archives de Bruxelles) comprises the archives of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).
After an initial assessment and the definition of a common work plan for a new scheme replacing the current structure, the HAEU made available a digital test platform to implement the project. It was developed in close cooperation with the Historical Archives Service of the Commission as a top-down tree system, starting from new fonds groups, fonds, sub-fonds, series and down to sub-series levels according to the proposals made by the Commission’s services. This project is still in process and will be fully achieved in the coming months.
In 2020, HAEU archivists started to move the first set of BAC files into the new structure and expanded the structure down to the file level. The newly created fonds are currently being uploaded into the operational HAEU database, replacing the previous BAC series. The work focuses first on transferring all BAC files categorized under the umbrella of the DG XII in the present classification scheme. This choice was based on the assumption that files produced under the DG XII belonged institutionally to EURATOM, which was confirmed to 80% after verification. Assessments of other DGs confirmed a similar trend. Early EURATOM files, which fell under DG XII in the BAC classification system, were therefore chosen as pilot for the first phase of re-classification. Other fonds will follow, gradually replacing the old numbering and filing system of the BAC holdings. The work will then focus on the CEAB holdings, which comprises the archives of the ECSC High Authority. The classification scheme of the CEAB holdings will be adjusted and updated according to the proposals of the Commission to introduce a new system of groups of fonds respecting fully the principle of archival provenance.
All file descriptions inserted into the new structure will receive a new reference code, which is based on the historical organisational charts of the Commission. The previous BAC codes continue to be present in the inventories, labelled as ‘old records codes’, and on the physical files to facilitate the retrieval of the files in the archival vault and to maintain references to previous research work. Users have from now on the possibility to quote the new references in their scholarly publications.
Consult the inventories of the European Commission’s holdings deposited at the HAEU here.