Hidden stakeholder views in Finnish archival act law drafting: a recordkeeping perspective

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the legislative drafting processe for the Archives Act in Finland and stakeholder involvement concerning the Archives Act proposal. The study aims to identify key factors that hinder or improve the analysis and visibility of these different stakeholder perspectives through time. It considers this from a recordkeeping perspective. Design/methodology/approach: First, selected law drafting guidelines and statement structures were examined to determine how they affect the analysis of stakeholder statements. Second, 90 stakeholder statements and two law drafter summaries were analyzed. Finally, six topics (public record and archives, archiving and preservation, the life cycle of records, transferring records to the National Archives, analog material and personal data) were used to examine the visibility of stakeholder statements and to compare differences in the views between law drafter summaries and stakeholder statements. Findings: Differing views of stakeholders did not receive sufficient visibility in the law drafter summaries. The key factors hindering the analysis and visibility of stakeholder statements were law drafting guidelines that did not support the analysis of the statements, statement structures that were rarely followed and law drafter summaries highlighting the views of the legislators. The recommendations are the need to embed a recordkeeping perspective into the accounts, the requirement to follow the statement structures, guided analysis methods for stakeholder statements and clearer references to stakeholder statements. Originality/value: The study compares the differing views of stakeholder statements and law drafter summaries in law drafting relating to records and information management.