Effectiveness in transparency and accountability rests on the existence of documents that set forth public servants’ responsibilities. However, the lack of regulation regarding archives in Mexico has been causing loss, destruction --intentional-- and darkness concerning relevant information or even information with historical or economic value. After the Federal Law of Transparency and Access to Governmental Public Information (the Mexican FOIA) ratification in 2003, the National Archives and the Federal Access to Public Information Institute (IFAI) issued standards regarding the organization and conservation of archives within the federal government in February 2004. This advances the exercise of the access to information right which requires documents to be duly organized under equal criteria in order to allow their expedite localization, availability, integrity, conservation and custody. This presentation shows how the IFAI is dealing with a challenging set of problems regarding “cultural infrastructure”, regulatory perspective, and lack of resources.