1) The body of records produced or otherwise acquired by an organisation (courts; central and local State bodies and offices; public bodies; private institutions), family or person in the course of their activities. The archive produced by an organisation is generally divided into:

• current records, comprising the documentation relating to ongoing business; at this stage records are used mainly for practical and administrative purposes;
• semi-current records, comprising documentation relating to completed business that is no longer needed for current work but has not yet been designated for permanent preservation and public consultation;
• historical archives, comprising documentation relating to completed business and intended for permanent preservation, so as to ensure appropriate public access for research or other purposes. 2) The term archive, like fonds, is also used in a general sense to indicate, within a repository holding archives of different provenance, each body of records that forms an organic whole. 3) Archive also denotes the premises in which an organisation preserves its current or semi-current records. 4) Finally, archive may denote an institution in which archives of different provenance are brought together and whose institutional purpose is the permanent preservation of records intended for consultation.