Introduction of Electronic Registration in Danish Central Government Administration

Abstract

This paper gives an overview of the administrative history of the introduction of electronic registers in the Danish central administration before the spread of the Internet. Electronic registers have developed in the interplay between new technological capabilities and political and administrative needs, but the changes that have been implemented are primarily the result of new political objectives or requirements. Examples are taken from the Students' Register at the University of Copenhagen, the Central Register for Motor Vehicles, the Danish Civil Registration System (CRS) and the National Patient Register (NPR).

Notes

This article is based on a research project by the Danish National Archives in 2006: Ny viden – gamle idéer. Elektroniske registres indførelse i centraladministrationen (New knowledge – old ideas. The introduction of electronic registers into central administration) Hansen et al., 2006.

The use of electronic data processing in Denmark in the 1960s is also examined in Heide, 1996. The punch card systems of the 1950s were used in particular for internal processes and they were not included in the study.

In September 2010, as part of a wider reorganisation of its handling of submissions of digital archive material, the Danish National Archives have also introduced new and tighter requirements regarding the ways in which registers to be preserved in the Danish National Archives are used by the authorities (www.sa.dk).

Degn, 2004.

Betænkning, 1922.

Hansen, 2006; Hansen, 2009.

Betænkning, 1962.

Betænkning, 1922.

Nielsen, 1991; Toft Hansen, 2002; Willumsen, 1999.

Hall-Andersen, 2006.

Hansen, 2006.

Registration in registers and their integration is regulated by The Public Authorities' Registers Act of 1978. It states that no unnecessary information about an individual's race, religion, skin colour, sexual orientation, criminal record, health and stimulant abuse may be registered. Integration of registers can only take place if there is a clear legal basis and when it is clearly stated that the information in registered will be used as such

Jansen, 2008.