This document specifies guidelines for the archives community on the collection and reporting of statistics for the following purposes:

—    strategic planning and internal management of archives;

—    aggregating and comparing operational and performance statistics at regional, national, and international levels;

—    reporting to stakeholders such as funding institutions, politicians, researchers, and the general public;

—    promoting the role and value of archives for advancing learning and research, education and culture, and social and economic life;

—    improving the management of processes, reinforcing transparency and supporting good governance.

This document does not apply to records centres responsible for records that are still in the legal custody of the organization that created or received them, although it is recognized that some archives also have responsibilities for appraising, acquiring, and managing the current records of organizations that can or not be transferred to the archives for permanent retention. When applying this document to archives that also perform records management functions, the archives can exclude statistics that pertain to its records management functions, including measures pertaining to holdings and their usage and preservation, funding and expenditures, space and facilities, staffing and management.