Identity area
Reference code
FR PUNES AG 8-LEG
Title
Legal Instruments
Date(s)
- 1946-2014 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent and medium
32.16 linear metres of textual records and other material
Context area
Name of creator
Repository
Archival history
The deposit of legal instruments with the Archives service began in 1951.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Legal instruments are mainly transferred from the Office of International Standards and Legal Affairs and the unit responsible for extrabudgetary funding, currently the Division of Cooperation with Extrabudgetary Funding Sources, Bureau of Strategic Planning. Instruments can also be transferred directly from Secretariat units, including field offices.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
In the course of its activities, UNESCO enters into legal agreements with member states, international and regional organizations, non-governmental organizations, universities, foundations, private companies and individuals. UNESCO’s General Conference also adopts international standard-setting instruments, including, so far, twenty-nine conventions, thirty-two recommendations, and thirteen declarations. In addition to this, UNESCO can be the designated depository for instruments adopted by other intergovernmental conferences. Member states then issue and send legal instruments to UNESCO in reponse to these standard-setting instruments. The Collection consists of legal instruments transferred to the Archives and registered by Archives staff in one of the following three series: A) Instruments signed with member states; B) Instruments signed with organizations, companies and private individuals; and C) Donations, bequests and legacies.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
Continuous accruals.
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
- Archives Registers (maintained up to 1989).
- Index cards (maintained to circa 1989): by signatory (country, organization, person) and by titles, subjects, or programmes.
- Access database (obsolete).
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Copies kept by the Office of International Standards and Legal Affairs, UNESCO. Secretariat units may also keep copies in their subject files.
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Date note: In certain cases when the lowest level of description is at the subseries, subsubseries or file-level, the date given in the description is the date of creation of the individual legal instrument in question, rather than a date range covering all the items. This is done to record the most important date without having to create item-level descriptions for all documents.
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Revised
Level of detail
Full
Dates of creation revision deletion
Revised AWT 8 March 2011. Revised by AWT 30-05-2013: previous version had 'collection' descriptions with examples of Conventions, Recommendations and Declarations. This did not reflect the actual arrangement of the overall legal instrument collection, but gave an idea of the type of records held. These description records were removed with the May 2013 revision, when a sufficient number of Series A descriptions had been entered to give a fuller picture of the scope of the collection. Date note added by AWT 12-11-2013. Overall revision, AWT, 29-04-2014. French proofreading by A. Coutelle, 22-05-2014.
Language(s)
Script(s)
Sources
UNESCO Archives, AG 8, ARC 3.1 M. Montaigner.
UNESCO Archives, AG 8, ARC 3.3 LA Tableau de conservation (records retention).
UNESCO Archives, AG 8, ARC 3.3 LA Tableau de conservation (records retention).