Terms of use

Welcome to The National Archives. Please help us safeguard our records by following our rules (PDF, 0.41 MB).

This list of rules is also available from the welcome desk and our Enquiry Service Manager.

Fair and reasonable use

The National Archives permits registered users to order and download a reasonable number of documents for free and has set a maximum order limit of 100 documents in a 30-day period.

Use of bulk downloads and web crawlers

The National Archives’ website content and metadata may not be used in any way that causes the service or access to it to be interrupted, damaged or impaired in any way.

Privacy notice

Information about how The National Archives handles personal information.

Copyright

The material featured on this website is subject to Crown copyright protection and licensed for use under the Open Government Licence unless otherwise indicated.

Takedown and reclosure policy

A policy setting out when we will remove material from websites or reclose previously open records

Record copying

Terms of use for ordering copies of documents.

Booking events and visits

Terms of use for booking events at The National Archives.

User participation

Terms of use and participation guidelines for user contributions on our website.

Our fees

Find out about the prices we charge for our public services, including research and record copying.

Information we collect online

When you visit this website, we collect website usage information and information about your computer and internet connection, including your computer's IP address, the type and version of browser (such Internet Explorer 7 or Firefox 3.

Cookies

Information about how and why we use cookies on our website.