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Municipal elections: administrative transparency and archives
Automatically translated from French ·
Published on Thursday, October 1, 2026 at 5:45 PM
# Municipal Elections: Administrative Transparency and Archives Updated on 09/03/2026 Following the municipal and community elections, municipalities and intercommunalities must conduct a reconciliation of their archives. This regulatory obligation ensures the transmission of the municipality's administrative memory. --- **What are the stakes of this initiative for mayors, the administration, and citizens?** **The Departmental Archives explain.** **What is**
Municipal Elections: Administrative Transparency and Archives
Updated on 09/03/2026
Following the municipal and community elections, municipalities and intercommunalities must conduct a reconciliation of their archives.
This regulatory obligation ensures the transmission of the municipality's administrative memory.
What are the stakes of this process for mayors, the administration, and citizens?
The Departmental Archives explain.
What is archive rechecking?
Archive rechecking is an inventory of the municipality’s archives. It is a legal requirement that applies at every municipal election, regardless of whether there is a change of mayor. Rechecking is accompanied by a minutes of discharge and handover, which legally formalize the transfer of responsibility between the outgoing and incoming mayors. It protects both parties in case of future disputes regarding the disappearance or deterioration of documents.
Why must municipalities and communities of municipalities carry out a rechecking of their archives?
Archival inventorying contributes to the proper preservation of communal heritage. Municipal archives consist of legal documents that justify individuals' rights (civil status, deliberations, urban planning, etc.), form the administrative memory of the community, and also serve as a source for historians and researchers. Therefore, the archival inventorying process for municipal or community archives is a guarantee of democratic transparency; it helps build citizens' trust in their elected officials.
What remains unchanged
It is recalled that territorial collectivities are owners and responsible for their archives (articles L. 212-6 and L. 212-6-1 of the Heritage Code). The management of archives falls under the mandatory expenditures of municipalities and is subject to scientific and technical oversight by the State, carried out by the director of departmental archives, delegated by the prefect.
What changes
The 2026 collection campaign includes a specific section dedicated to digital archives, reflecting the ongoing digitization of administration, including at the local level. Finally, for the first time, the Ministry of Culture is offering a fully digital procedure for entering collections and minutes of acceptance of municipal and EPCI archives via the portal « demarche.numerique.gouv.fr ».
Who establishes the collection?
Only authorized officials permitted to access archives are responsible for carrying out the inventory (professional archivist, municipal secretary, etc.). In early February 2026, the Departmental Archives brought together the network of communal and itinerant archivists from Hautes-Alpes to remind them of the deadline for the mandatory inventory and to present its new features.
More information about the inventory and public archives on the website of the Departmental Archives of Hautes-Alpes:
https://archives.hautes-alpes.fr/n/collectivites-et-administrations/n:72
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