United States Department of Agriculture
Research, Education and Economics

ARS * CSREES * ERS * NASS

Bulletin

1.    Background

In 1997, a Federal District Court judge ruled that portions of General Records Schedule (GRS) 20 were beyond the authority of the Archivist of the United States under the Federal Records Act, and declared GRS 20 to be null and void. This ruling would have required agencies to preserve all electronic records in their original format until individual dispositions/retentions were approved by the National Archives. However, on August 6, 1999, the U.S. Court of Appeals overturned the earlier decision in favor of the National Archives, allowing agencies to dispose of the electronic versions of records under certain conditions (as provided below under Section 3, “Policy”).

2.    Definition of Records and Nonrecords

NARA defines records as any information created or received, regardless of media, which document agency activities. Records are those materials that:

• document agency policies and/or procedures;
  
• form the basis of actions/decisions by officials;
  
• allow scrutiny by Congress or oversight agencies; and
  
• protect the financial, legal, and other rights of the Government and individuals directly affected by agency activities.

Electronic records are typically letters, memoranda, reports, handbooks, directives, and manuals recorded as files on electronic media, such as hard disks or floppy diskettes. They include wordprocessing documents, databases, spreadsheets, E-mail messages, electronic forms, etc.

Nonrecords, unlike records, are not official copies that document agency activities and are only used for reference or convenience (e.g., duplicate copies of publications or reports, suspense or tickler files, and information copies of correspondence or forms, etc.).

3.    Policy

Until NARA provides further guidance, the following is the policy for the REE Agencies:

• Employees may delete E-mail, wordprocessing documents, and other computer-generated material which meet the definition of “records”, if they first print them in hard copy and either file or convert them to microfiche/film and retain them based on NARA-approved retention periods. Otherwise, the electronic records must be preserved in their native format until individual retention periods are established.
  
  Note: Although REE agency system administrators routinely back up electronic records saved to LAN drives, as well as E-mail saved in their native E-mail systems, back up tapes do not meet NARAs electronic recordkeeping requirements. Back up tapes are only maintained as an emergency resource in the event of a system or hard drive failure.

Remember that unauthorized destruction of official records is prohibited by law and subject to penalty (Section 2071 of Title 18, U.S. Code).


4.    Current Status

NARA representatives have stated that they are reviewing the appeals court decision but do not plan to issue further policy statements until the case is a finally resolved. However, they are posting current information on their web site at http://www.nara.gov/records/grs20.

5.    Questions

Please direct specific questions about the REE electronic recordkeeping policy to Stephen Pollard, Records Management Officer, by phone: 202-720-3359; fax: 202-720-6577; or Internet: spollard@ars.usda.gov.

-/Sd/-

KEITH W. ANDERSON
Director
Information Technology Division