Identity Statement

Reference Code

HU OSA 408-5-2

Title

Related Legislation and their Implementation

Date(s)

1971 - 2007

Description Level

Series

Extent and medium (processed)

1 Archival boxes, 0.12 linear meters

Context

Archival history

The series includes László Varga's own collection.

Content and Structure

Scope and Content (Abstract)

After the regime change Nyilvánosság Klub and the Budapest City Archives turned to the Constitutional Court to request the revision of regulations on archival research. One of the complaints was that current regulations allowed civil organizations to classify documents. In 1994 the Constitutional Court invalidated these provisions and established that some of the rules are not even legal provisions. It ordered the Parliament to create a law on archival research and classification rules within a year (though this was not part of the original request). The Parliament did meet the deadline otherwise – which was commonly the case – files would have been declassified.

The series includes legal provisions that are indispensable for the application of and sometimes understanding “agent laws”. Thus, part of the series are the Archival Law (including the original rules of archival research of 1971), secrecy and state security laws as well as relevant resolutions of the Constitutional Court and recommendations of the Commissioner for Data Protection.

Another part of the series consist of documents relating to the laws, such as resolutions issued by the lustration judges, minutes and press coverage of the parliamentary debate on the Medgyessy case, the report of the committee headed by one time president of the Constitutional Court László Sólyom written in 2002, documents and debates concerning the Historical Office and its legal successor Historical Archives of the Hungarian State Security, minutes of the state security session dealing with the “lost” sheet No6 of Gábor Szalay, member of the Parliament from the party Alliance of Free Democrats, and the findings of an opinion poll carried out in 2007.

Péter Medgyessy’s past as an officer of the state security organization was found out by daily Magyar Nemzet a few months after his election as prime minister. Medgyessy first denied charges, then tried to repair the damage by promising full disclosure of the state security files.

These documents are a significant contribution to understanding the history of the “agent laws” by both supplementing them and showing the various areas of their application.

Setting up the Sólyom Committee was an example of how the government can successfully sabotage it. The report fully reflects this. The “Szalay case” was an attempt to draw away attention – typical for the period. The basis of the case was that only a copy, fully identical with the original sheet No 6 was in the files.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information

No documents were destroyed in the course of processing.

Accruals

Not Expected

System of arrangement

Arranged thematically, and chronologically.

Conditions of Access and Use

Conditions governing access

The general rules of research in OSA Research Room apply.

Conditions governing reproduction

A dokumentumok oktatási és kutatási célból digitálisan másolhatók az OSA Archivum kutatótermében.

Description Control

Archivist's note

Processed by László Varga, March 2, 2015.