A state paper is a document or file kept by a government to record discussions, options and decisions by government officials, departments and civil servants. Some states follow a

thirty year rule The "thirty-year rule" is the informal name given to laws in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, and the Commonwealth of Australia that provide that certain government documents will be released publicly thirty years after they were creat ...

whereby state papers on an issue may be released to academic scrutiny thirty years after an original discussion or decision. State papers are often kept in a country's National Archives, State Paper Office or

Public Record Office The Public Record Office (abbreviated as PRO, pronounced as three letters and referred to as ''the'' PRO), Chancery Lane in the City of London, was the guardian of the national archives of the United Kingdom from 1838 until 2003, when it was m ...

. All files are numbered using an alphanumeric code which academics may use as a reference in footnotes of books. Some state papers are

embargo Economic sanctions are commercial and financial penalties applied by one or more countries against a targeted self-governing state, group, or individual. Economic sanctions are not necessarily imposed because of economic circumstances—they m ...

ed for reasons of national security or other sensitive reasons.

References

Government documents {{Gov-stub

See also

References