1. > CHECK TO SEE IF THE RECORD IS COVERED BY A VALID DISPOSAL AUTHORITY

Some common types of records are covered by General Disposal Authorities (GDAs), for example human resources and personnel records, and financial and accounting records, while for other types you need a specific disposal authority.

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2. > CHECK THAT YOUR AUTHORITY IS VALID

To decide if the authority is valid check that:

• It hasn't lapsed (they are valid for a set period - usually 10 years);
• Your organisation has the same, or nearly the same functions, filing systems, or recordkeeping practices as it did when the authority was signed;
• There's no new legislation that requires particular records to be dealt with differently; and
• It hasn't been revoked by the Chief Archivist.

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3. > CARRY OUT THE AUTHORISED ACTIONS

If you have a valid disposal authority, you can sentence your records.
This means you divide the records into disposal classes, according to what action is applicable to each record or class of records, under the disposal authority. The disposal authority will also tell you how long you need to keep records. You can sentence records when they are made, when they are closed, or as part of a regular disposal programme.

Under the Public Records Act 2005, you can:

1. transfer control of the public record to another public office; or
2. transfer control of the public record to the Chief Archivist; or
3. alter or destroy the public record; or
4. sell the public record; or
5. discharge the public record.

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These are the steps to develop an authority, if you do not already have one.

1. > APPRAISE RECORDS

Records must first be formally evaluated or 'appraised' to see whether they should be kept as public archives or destroyed after a period of time. See the Archives New Zealand Appraisal Standard for more information. The Standard tells you about the evaluation process, the criteria for deciding a record's
value, and how appraisal reports are written.

• Public offices can either do their own appraisals or can contract records management consultants to do it for them.
• All appraisals need to provide a report with recommendations about what to do with the records being appraised. The usual recommendations are either:

1. Destroy. Destruction must be done in a secure manner. If you wish, you can choose to keep records which are past the period set for keeping them.
2. Retain as public archives. This means you need to transfer the records to Archives New Zealand and the control of the Chief Archivist. This generally happens at the end of the period which has been set for keeping the records, or at some time agreed between you and Archives New Zealand.

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2. > SUBMIT FOR AGREEMENT AND AUTHORISATION

Once you have the appraisal report you should submit it and any other documentation to the Chief Archivist for authorisation. Your submission should include:

• A letter, signed at a senior level, showing that the organisation supports the appraisal recommendations.
• The appraisal report, with the recommended actions and the justifications for those.
• A list, schedule, or other documentation identifying the records covered, and the specific actions recommended for them.

Your submission should be in electronic format using the Archives New Zealand template which you can download from our website or get on disk by e-mailing appraisal@archives.govt.nz.

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3. > ARCHIVES NEW ZEALAND CONSIDERS YOUR SUBMISSION

Archives New Zealand staff will review your submission to make sure it is clear and the disposal recommendations are appropriate. We might need to send it back with some suggestions for revision.

We post all "Intentions to dispose of records" on our website for at least 30 days to give the public the chance to comment. We assess any comments we get and pass a summary of them to the Chief Archivist along with your appraisal report and our own final recommendation on the appropriate disposal action. The Chief Archivist then makes the final disposal decision.

Archives New Zealand will keep you in the loop as your appraisal report moves through this process, which generally takes about 12-14 weeks. You will need to make allowance for this time and for any changes we ask you to make to the report - for example you might need to arrange storage for your records or you might need to include making changes to the report in any contracts with consultants you hire.

• See also Fact Sheet F2 What is Disposal?

If you have any questions or need advice at any stage of the process, please contact Archives New Zealand on (04) 499-5595 or appraisal@archives.govt.nz.

For questions about the transfer of records to Archives New Zealand, e-mail transfer@archives.govt.nz or contact your nearest Archives New Zealand regional office. We are happy to help you.

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