The rule governs transitory electronic records, or those “of short-term (180 days or less) interest . . . which have no documentary or evidential value,” including simple requests for information, memos that do not serve as the basis of official actions, and routine notifications of meetings or other scheduling-related activities. Agencies can store such records—with the exception of those identified as federal records—on their e-mail systems without having to copy them to a paper or electronic recordkeeping system, the notice stated.
“NARA has concluded that government employees are more likely to take seriously their responsibility of retaining e-mail records of long-term or permanent value . . . if they do not have to spend time on the very high volume of transitory and very short-term e-mail records that cross their desktops every day,” the notice read.
“We believe that the new rule will ease the burden on federal employees,” it continued, adding that it allows greater flexibility and “reduces costs by not requiring that every e-mail message be printed, and also reduces the amount of time spent filing.”
Posted February 24, 2006.