In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires
"Advisory Committee"
means the National Records and Archives Agency Advisory Committee established by section
6
;
"Agency"
means the National Records and Archives Agency established by section
4
;
"archival repository"
means a building or part of a building in which archives are preserved and made available for consultation;
"archives"
means records of enduring value selected for permanent preservation;
"competent authority"
means for the purpose of section
17
(2) a person authorised to downgrade or declassify classified records the sensitivity of which has reduced or expired;
"currency point"
has the meaning assigned to it in the First Schedule to this Act;
"current records"
means records regularly used for the conduct of the current business of an institution or individual;
"Director"
means the Director of the National Records and Archives Agency;
"heads of organs of State"
means the Ministers or other persons responsible for directing organs of State;
"local governments"
means local governments established under subsections (2) to (5) of section 4 of the Local Governments Act;
"Minister"
means the Minister responsible for the administration of this Act;
"National Archives"
means the principal archival repository in which the public archives of Uganda are preserved and made available for consultation:
"organ of State"
means any institution, body or office established by or under the Constitution;
"place of deposit"
means a place appointed as such under section
16
of this Act;
"private records and archives"
means records and archives other than public records and archives as defined in this Act;
"public archives"
means public records of enduring value selected for permanent preservation;
"public records"
means records of an official nature belonging to the Republic of Uganda-
(i)
created, received and maintained in any past, present or future organ of State;
(ii)
created, received and maintained in any past, present or future public corporation or parastatal organisation;
(iii)
created, received and maintained in any past, present or future local government;
(iv)
in the custody of the Government Archivist at the time of coming into operation of this Act;
(v)
declared to be public records by the Minister by regulations under section
31
of this Act;
"records"
means recorded information regardless of form or medium created, received and maintained by any institution or individual under its legal obligations or in the transaction of its business and providing evidence of the performance of those obligations or that business;
"records centre"
means a building or part of a building designated for the storage and provision of official access to semi-current records pending their eventual disposal;
"registry"
means the place where current records are managed and maintained;
"retention and disposal schedule"
means a document describing the recurring records of an institution or an administrative unit of that institution, specifying which records should be preserved permanently as having enduring value as archives and authorising on a continuing basis and after the lapse of prescribed retention periods or the occurrence of specified actions or events, the disposal by destruction or other means of the remaining records:
"semi-current records"
means records required only infrequently for the conduct of current business and for the purposes of this Act, files and other assemblies of records on which no action has been recorded for five years shall be regarded as semi-current records.