In the field of the protection of archival materials as cultural heritage, the social changes after 1989 and the independence of Slovenia in 1991 brought about a new division of archival materials into public and private materials, and the division of the archives into public archives (national archives, cities' and municipal or local communities' archives, and other public archives) and private archives of privatelyowned enterprises and institutions, political parties, religious communities, associations and individuals. On March 27. 1997, after several years of effort and almost three years of debating the issue, the Slovene Parliament adopted the Law on Archival Materials and Archives. In connection with the new social changes and new demands of the time, the law speaks about the protection of archival cultural heritage and separates it from other items of cultural heritage. The new law strictly follows the guidelines of the UNESCO on the archival legislation from 1990. as well as the recommendations of the European Union from 1990. published in the 1994 issue of Die Archive der Europäischen Union. The article compares the new archival law and the actual slate of the archival services in Slovenia with a particular emphasis on the activities of the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia under these new circumstances.