A model law on archives which was prepared for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) by the International Council on Archives is presented. The aim of the law is to help countries in varying stages of development to construct legal guidelines for archival use which are in line with the exigencies of modern life created by the combination of 1) freer access to and greater use of archives and 2) modern reprographic processes. The work has two main sections: a description of the draft law on archives and a text of the law. Each section contains chapters which deal, respectively, with 1) general principles; 2) archival administrative structure; 3) personnel; 4) control commissions; 5) intermediate repositories; 6) destruction of state documents; 7) transfers; 8) historical services of foreign and defense ministries; 9) production and access; 10) the legal status of documentary sources, public, and state documents; 11) private bodies and individuals; 12) gifts and bequests; 13) purchases; 14) special requirements concerning deposits, gifts, and bequests; and 15) expropriation of documentary sources for public purposes. The descriptive section also provides a set of conclusions which immediately precedes the text of the law. (PB)