§ 1

Right of Use

The archive material at the Federal Archives shall be open to anyone upon request in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Archives Act (BArchG) and this Usage Regulation.

§ 2

Type of Use

(1) The archive material shall be presented for use in the original or as a copy, or it shall be handed over as a copy, or information shall be provided on its content. The type of use shall be determined by the Federal Archives.

(2) The archive material shall generally only be presented in the original at the Federal Archives. Any exceptions shall be determined by the President.

§ 3

Conditions of Use

(1) An application to use archive material must be submitted in writing, stating the exact topic and purpose of the research.

(2) A decision on the usage application shall be issued by the Federal Archives. It may grant approval subject to certain conditions.

(3) At the request of the Federal Archives, the applicant must undertake in writing to observe the personal rights, copyrights and legitimate interests of third parties when exploiting any knowledge obtained from archive material, and to indemnify the Federal Archives in the event of violations.

(4) A special request must be made for the involvement of assistants. The names of any such assistants must be indicated in the usage application; § 3.3 shall apply accordingly.

(5) If any knowledge obtained from archive material is to be used for topics or purposes other than those indicated in the usage application, a new application must be submitted.

§ 4

Duty of Care

The user shall be obliged to leave the archive material in the reading rooms, to preserve the internal arrangement of the archive material, to prevent damage to the archive material, and to refrain from changing the archive material and jeopardising its conservation.

§ 5

Exclusion and Expulsion

If a user grossly violates the provisions of the BArchG or the statutory instruments adopted in Section 6 BArchG, the user shall be excluded from using the Federal Archives.

§ 6

Use by Federal Government Agencies

One of the agencies described in the first sentence of Section 2 (1) BArchG or in Section 1 (2) and Section 2 of the Act on the Central Archiving of Legal Documents on the Aftermath of War of 6 January 1988 (BGBl., Part I, p.65) may access any archive material created by the agency or its legal predecessor at any time for the purposes for which the documents were allowed to be used before their submission to the Federal Archives. §§ 1 to 5 of this regulation shall not apply in such cases.

§ 7

(Entry into Force)

[The BArchBV entered into force on 11 November 1993.]