ABSTRACT
The Public Record Office went through a major restructuring and change of status, followed by the appointment of the first female Keeper. Local government archives faced the loss of their historic administrative units, the counties, but embraced collaborative initiatives which brought about improved standards in many areas of professional work. The advent of the single European market under the Maastricht Treaty on European Union in 1993 provided a transition from a community of member states to a closer union. An EU Experts Group on archives was formed in 1991 to look at areas of coordination, including appraisal, conservation, access to traditional archives and computerized records, legislation, training and qualifications and professional networks. The development of data protection and freedom of information legislation in the UK was largely driven by European Directives. The second Data Protection Act 1998 maintained the duty on those holding personal data to comply with data protection principles and to allow data subjects access to the data.
