It comprises the whole body of documents produced or otherwise acquired by a body in the course of its activities. Such bodies include courts, central and peripheral state authorities, public bodies, private institutions, families and individuals. The archive produced by a body is generally divided into:
current archive, for the part of the documentation relating to ongoing matters; at this stage the documents are used chiefly for practical and administrative purposes;
semi-current archive, for the part of the documentation relating to completed matters, no longer required for current business, but not yet institutionally intended for permanent preservation and public consultation;
historical archive, for the part of the documentation relating to completed matters, intended for permanent preservation in order to ensure adequate public consultation for study or other purposes.
The term archives, like fond, is also used in a generic sense to indicate, within an institution where archives of different provenance are brought together, each documentary body possessing a character of unity.
The term archive also refers to the place in which a body keeps its current or semi-current archive.
Finally, “archives” also refers to the institution in which archives from different provenances are brought together, with the institutional purpose of permanently preserving documents intended for consultation.
