All countries have the same right and need to preserve and have access to their national memory. Films, programs and recordings released in multiple countries sometimes do not survive in their country of origin. Moreover, during the last century, many former colonies have gained national independence and, in consequence, have often moved to establish national archives and other repositories for cultural and historical records, including audiovisual documents.
A characteristic of colonial status was that audiovisual documents were often created by organisations which operated under the auspices of the colonizing power. As a result, the films and recordings they created gravitated to the colonizing country and frequently have not survived in the country whose history and culture they document. Conversely, the opposite situation can also occur and the former colonizing power may no longer have material which does survive in the country of origin.
These countries thereby have a shared heritage, a shared moral ownership and a shared interest in the preservation and accessibility of such material. Giving practical expression to this shared interest requires the cooperation of relevant production companies, archives and rights owners.
Since audiovisual documents can be replicated, the movement of audiovisual heritage from one country to another does not necessarily entail the physical return of original negatives or other master materials. It does, however, entail the creation of copies for access, the clearance of rights and, where necessary, the establishment of agreements between the two countries to secure the preservation of the master materials in whichever country they are located.
CCAAA therefore declares the following principles:
All archives within the CCAAA umbrella are encouraged to give effect to these principles in the following ways: