Comment on Draft Policy
We welcome your comments. Comments that you send us help inform our decisions and policies concerning our service to you. Once we receive your comments, we will consider them carefully. Public comments become a permanent part of the case file, and may be available for public review.
If you have a suggestion, compliment, or complaint about any of our services and products (other than draft policy), please send us a message using our online form.
Currently Open for Public Comment:
Regulations
NARA creates regulations or "rules" that state how we fulfill our agency's mission, meet statutory requirements, and conduct business with other agencies and the general public. We publish our regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), mostly under 36 CFR Chapter XII and 32 CFR Chapter XX, and they are organized into subchapters based on topics like agency functions, oversight responsibilities, or how people access the records we hold. A complete list of our current regulations is on this page.
Learn more about our regulations and regulatory process, or how to comment on open regulations.
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PROPOSED RULE: 36 CFR 1236 Electronic Records Management, RIN 3095-AB98 (published September 10, 2016, Volume 83, pages 45587-45588). We are revising our electronic records management regulation to include standards for digitizing temporary Federal records so that agencies may dispose of the original source records, where appropriate and in accordance with the Federal Records Act amendments of 2014. Temporary records constitute the majority of Federal records; agencies retain them for a specific period of time, as established by records schedules. At the end of the scheduled retention period, temporary records are then destroyed. Digitization standards for temporary records ensure that agencies can continue to use the digital versions for the same purposes as the original records for the duration of that time period. This rule would provide agencies with guidance necessary to proceed with significant digitization and destruction projects for temporary records. We are currently developing standards for digitizing permanent records, which we will publish as a separate rulemaking. Submit comments on or before November 9, 2018.
Records Schedule Notices
Record schedules authorize agencies to preserve records of continuing value in the National Archives of the United States and to destroy, after a specified period, records lacking administrative, legal, research, or other value. Agencies must follow a records schedule's mandatory instructions on what to do with the records once they are no longer needed for current Government business and the Archivist of the United States approves the schedule.
NARA publishes notices in the Federal Register to allow public comment on proposed records schedules before the Archivist approves them.
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[NARA-2018-057] Notice published September 4, 2018 (Volume 83, pages 44913-44914) [14 schedules: 10 DAg; 2 DHS; DOJ; Fed Maritime Comm]. Request for copies due no later than October 4, 2018.
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[NARA-2018-060] Notice published September 11, 2018 (Volume 83, pages 45979-45980) [14 schedules: 8 DAg; 2 DOE; 2 HHS; DHS; DOI]. Request for copies due no later than October 11, 2018.
Information Collections
Notices on proposed information collections (e.g., forms and surveys completed by non-Federal entities and individuals) describe the collection, how we will use the information, and our estimate of the reporting burden to respondents.
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[NARA-2018-055] First notice for renewing OMB control number 3095-0017 (Request to digitize records) and OMB control number 3095-0054 (Independent Researcher Listing Application); published August 16, 2018 (Volume 83, page 40789). Comments due to NARA no later than October 15, 2018.
Other Requests for Public Comment:
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There are currently no other open requests for public comment.