§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on(a) the policy on and (b) the extent of the practice of the destruction of European Union documents. [60001]
§ Ms QuinThe policy on archiving historical documents is laid down in Council Regulation (EEC/EURATOM) No. 354/83 of 1 February 1983. Criteria for what constitutes an historical document are laid down by each institution. All official, numbered Council and Commission documents are kept indefinitely. Descriptions of the policy and of its implementation are included in "Archives in the European Union (1994)" and "Guide to the archives of the Member States' Foreign Ministries and European institutions (1996)", both published by the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.