During its current session, the Diet is expected to enact a bill to improve the system for managing and storing official documents, now that the Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of Japan have reached a compromise. The bill is the legacy of former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who wanted to bring politics closer to the people.

The LDP and the DPJ agreed to make it clear in the bill that official documents are the people's intellectual "property" and, as such, should be independently accessible. Bureaucrats should fully understand this principle and act accordingly.

The original bill submitted by the government failed to mention the people's right to know and empowered the heads of administrative organizations to dispose of official documents.

As a result of the agreement between the LDP and the DPJ in their negotiations to revise the bill, the prime minister's approval would be needed for bureaucrats to dispose of official documents. The scope of official documents also has been expanded to include memos written during meetings and reference materials used in meetings.

But the revised bill has flaws. The volume of official documents is so large that it would be difficult for the prime minister to render proper judgments, raising the strong possibility that his decisions would become perfunctory. The bill also should clearly define the official documents covered.

It is also unclear which organization will be in charge of supervising the maintenance of official documents. Establishment of an advisory body in the Cabinet Office is envisaged, but its power would be too weak. Instead, the bill should include the establishment of an agency to oversee the handling of official documents, as the DPJ has called for.

Because the bill does not provide for establishment of intermediate archives to temporarily store official documents whose retention periods have expired, bureaucrats might hold on to official documents they don't want released. Therefore, it is essential that intermediate archives be established. The National Archives' functions should also be strengthened.