§ 1228.264 - Certification for retention of records in agency custody.

(a) Permanent records shall be transferred to the National Archives of the United States when the records have been in existence for more than 30 years unless the head of the agency which has custody of the records certifies in writing to the Archivist that the records must be retained in agency custody for use in the conduct of the regular current business of the agency. Records that are scheduled in a NARA-approved records schedule to be transferred to the National Archives of the United States after a specified period of time are subject to the certification requirement only if the records are not transferred as scheduled.

(b) In order to certify that records must be retained for the conduct of regular current business, an agency should consider the following factors:

(1) Character of use (to be retained by an agency, records should be used for the normal routine business of the agency at the time of certification);

(2) Frequency of use (to be retained by an agency, records should be used more than one time per month per file unit); and,

(3) Preservation of the records (to be retained by an agency, permanently valuable records should be preserved in accordance with NARA guidelines).

(c) The written certification of need of a series of 30-year-old records for current agency business must:

(1) Include a comprehensive description and location of records to be retained;

(2) Cite the NARA approved authority for the disposition of the records if scheduled (SF 115 item number);

(3) Describe the current business for which the records are required;

(4) Estimate the length of time the records will be needed by the agency for current business (if no date is provided by the agency, approved certification requests will be effective for a maximum of five years);

(5) Explain why the current needs of the agency cannot be met by the services NARA provides for records deposited with the National Archives of the United States; and,

(6) If the records are being retained to enable the agency to provide routine public reference, cite the statute authorizing this agency activity.

(d) NARA will not accept an agency certification that a specific body of records over 30 years old, regardless of physical form or characteristics, is being used for the “conduct of the regular current business,” if that agency is retaining such records primarily to:

(1) Provide to persons outside the agency access which can be provided by NARA; or

(2) Function as an agency archives, unless specifically authorized by statute or NARA.