2015
2015
s2015-007
2023-07-28
State Records Act 1998
act-1998-017
reg
reprint
act-2017-066
allinforce
LW 28 August 2015
2020-09-01
2024-09-01
sl-2015-0505
237462dd-554f-487c-8326-9b81aac1c9ba
27f971f9-0b6a-4a67-90ba-061db99e049d
none
website
1
Does not include amendments
by—
Tattoo Parlours Amendment
(Statutory Review) Act 2022 No 10 (not
commenced)
1Name of Regulation
This Regulation is the State Records Regulation
2015.
2Commencement
This Regulation commences on 1 September 2015 and
is required to be published on the NSW legislation website.
Note—
This Regulation replaces the State Records Regulation 2010 which is
repealed on 1 September 2015 by section 10 (2) of the Subordinate Legislation Act
1989.
3Definition
(1)
In this Regulation:
the
Act means the State Records Act
1998.
Note—
The Act and the Interpretation
Act 1987 contain definitions and other provisions that
affect the interpretation and application of this
Regulation.
(2)
Notes included in this Regulation do not form
part of this Regulation.
4Prescribed State collecting
institutions
For the purposes of the definition of State collecting
institution in section 3 (1) of the Act, each of the
following institutions is prescribed as a State collecting institution:
(a)
a university (but only in relation to private
records in a research library or archives collection),
(b)
a council within the meaning of the Local Government Act 1993 (but only in
relation to private records in a local studies or similar
collection),
(c)
the Centennial Park and Moore Park
Trust,
(d)
the Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground
Trust,
(e)
the Parliament of New South
Wales,
(f)
the Sydney Harbour Foreshore
Authority,
(g)
the Trustees of the Anzac Memorial
Building.
5Exception from operation of section 21
For the purposes of section 21 (2) (b) of the
Act, anything that is authorised or required to be done by or under a
provision of an Act specified in Schedule 1 is prescribed as an exception to
Part 3 of the Act.
6Guidelines on what constitutes normal administrative
practice
For the purposes of section 22 (3) of the Act,
Schedule 2 prescribes guidelines on what constitutes normal administrative
practice.
7Savings
Any act, matter or thing that, immediately before
the repeal of the State Records Regulation
2010, had effect under that Regulation continues to have
effect under this Regulation.
Schedule 1Provisions
excepted from operation of section 21
(Clause 5)
1Provisions requiring alteration of
records
Privacy and Personal
Information Protection Act 1998, section 15 (Alteration of
personal information)
2Provisions authorising or requiring destruction of
records
Casino Control Act
1992, section 159 (Destruction of finger prints
etc)
Crimes (Forensic
Procedures) Act 2000, Part 10 (Destruction of forensic
material) and section 94 (Recording, retention and removal of identifying
information on DNA database system)
Electoral Act
2017, sections 146 (Retention of applications) and 175
(Security of election materials and electronic resources)
Gambling (Two-up) Act
1998, section 28 (Destruction of fingerprints and palm
prints)
Gaming and Liquor
Administration Act 2007, section 15 (Destruction of finger
prints etc)
Law Enforcement (Powers and
Responsibilities) Act 2002, sections 75B (Access to and
downloading of data from computers (including access to computers outside
premises the subject of a warrant)), 137A (Destruction of finger-prints and
palm-prints (adults and children)), 137C (Commissioner may order destruction
of identification particulars) and 138A (Taking of finger-prints and
palm-prints from persons issued penalty notices)
Police Act
1990, section 96A (Finger printing and hand printing of
applicants—police officers)
Public Lotteries Act
1996, section 58 (Destruction of finger and palm prints of
former key employees)
Security Industry Act
1997, section 18 (Investigation of licence and renewal
applications)
Surveillance Devices Act
2007, sections 41 (Dealing with records obtained by use of
surveillance devices) and 58 (Orders for forfeiture)
Tattoo Parlours Act
2012, section 13 (Fingerprinting and palm printing of
applicants)
Telecommunications
(Interception and Access) (New South Wales) Act 1987,
section 8 (Keeping and destruction of restricted records)
Totalizator Act
1997, sections 65 (Destruction of fingerprints and palm
prints of former key employees) and 110 (Destruction of fingerprints
etc)
Workplace Surveillance Act
2005, section 29 (Duration and conditions of covert
surveillance authority)
3Provisions authorising the making of regulations
concerning destruction of records
Firearms Act
1996, section 88, to the extent that it authorises the
making of a regulation concerning the destruction of fingerprints and copies
of fingerprints
Gaming Machines Act
2001, section 210, to the extent that it authorises the
making of a regulation concerning the destruction of fingerprints or palm
prints and copies of fingerprints or palm prints
Independent Commission
Against Corruption Act 1988, section 117, to the extent
that it authorises the making of a regulation concerning the destruction of
fingerprint imprints
Security Industry Act
1997, section 48, to the extent that it authorises the
making of a regulation concerning the destruction of fingerprints and copies
of fingerprints
sch 1: Am 2017 (287),
cl 3; 2017 No 66, Sch 8.20.
Schedule 2Guidelines on
what constitutes normal administrative practice
(Clause 6)
Part 1Preliminary
1General
These guidelines give guidance as to what
constitutes normal administrative practice in a public
office.
2Definitions
In this Schedule:
continuing value, in
respect of records, means records that have administrative, business, fiscal,
legal, evidential or historic value to the public office.
ephemeral, in respect of
records, means records of little value that only need to be kept for a limited
or short period of time. Records that are ephemeral have no continuing value
to the public office and, generally, are only needed for a few hours or a few
days.
facilitative, in respect
of records, means records of little value and of a routine instructional
nature that are used to further some activity. Most records that are
facilitative have no continuing value to the public office and, generally, are
only needed for a few hours or a few days.
Part 2Drafts
3Definition of “draft”
In this Part:
draft means any version, other
than the final version, of a record, such as an address, speech, report,
correspondence, table, statistics, file note, plan or sketch prepared prior to
approval or production of the final version of the
record.
4Drafts that must not be disposed
of
Drafts that must not be disposed of are drafts
that document significant decisions, discussions, reasons and actions or
contain significant information that is not contained in the final version of
the record. For example:
(a)
drafts containing significant or substantial
changes or annotations, and
(b)
drafts relating to the formulation of
legislation, legislative proposals and amendments, and
(c)
drafts relating to the formulation of policy and
procedures, where the draft provides evidence of the processes involved or
contains significantly more information than the final version of the
record.
5Drafts that may be disposed of
Drafts that may be disposed of are drafts that
are of a routine nature (other than drafts referred to in clause 4). For
example, drafts annotated with only facilitative instructions for formatting
or the correction of typographical, grammatical or spelling
errors.
Part 3Working papers and records
6Definition of “working papers and
records”
In this Part:
working papers and
records means papers, background notes and reference
materials that are used to prepare or complete other
records.
7Working papers and records that must not be disposed
of
Working papers and records that must not be
disposed of are those that document significant decisions, discussions,
reasons and actions or contain significant information that is not contained
in the final version of the record. For example:
(a)
working papers and records of a project officer
or investigative officer that are the substantive record of the project or
investigation (that is, they contain substantial and valuable information not
found elsewhere), and
(b)
working papers and records in an unofficial
filing system where a registered file has not been created or kept within a
public office’s record-keeping system.
8Working papers and records that may be disposed
of
Working papers and records may be disposed of
when they are primarily facilitative and when the retention of the final
version of a record is sufficient to meet the record-keeping requirements of a
public office, so long as they are not required to be retained in order to
account for policies, decisions, reasons and actions or not required to
function as evidence. For example:
(a)
audio recordings of conferences and meetings used
to prepare correspondence, papers, minutes and transcripts,
and
(b)
calculations, and
(c)
rough notes (including rough notes of meetings
and conversations where a formal record has been made),
and
(d)
statistics and
figures.
Part 4Duplicates of records
9Definition of
“duplicates”
In this Part:
duplicates means
reproductions of records the original or authorised copies of which are
contained within a public office record-keeping
system.
10Duplicates that must not be disposed
of
Duplicates that must not be disposed of
are:
(a)
duplicates of records sourced from outside the
public office that should properly be captured in an appropriate way within
the record-keeping system of the public office, and
(b)
duplicates of internal public office records that
in themselves may form part of a record, for example an authorised copy of a
document sent from a central office to a regional area where that copy should
be captured in the record-keeping system of the regional
area.
11Duplicates that may be disposed
of
Duplicates that may be disposed of are:
(a)
information copies of records that have already
been captured within a record-keeping system elsewhere in the public office
and that are generally held for reference purposes (for example, copies of
correspondence, reports and memos), and
(b)
duplicates of publications (for example, external
annual reports, price lists, trade journals, catalogues, brochures and
leaflets).
Part 5Computer support records
12Computer support records that must not be disposed
of
Computer support records that must not be
disposed of are those that support significant functions of the public office
and that may be needed as evidence of particular activities (for example,
records that provide audit trails).
13Computer records that may be disposed
of
The following computer records may be disposed of
once they have been acted upon or superseded and are not required for ongoing
business requirements:
(a)
input and output formats from electronic business
and records systems, such as the following:
(i)
error or control reports,
(ii)
input forms for data entry,
(iii)
output used for checking and
verifying,
(iv)
regular batch reports,
(v)
system reports,
(vi)
transaction reports used for checking and control
purposes,
(b)
reference copies of user manuals and similar
documents,
(c)
superseded computer logs,
(d)
superseded or obsolete computing
software,
(e)
systems back-ups,
(f)
test data.
Part 6Facilitating instructions
14Definition of “facilitating
instructions”
In this Part:
facilitating
instructions means records that contain routine or
facilitative instructions to officers.
15Facilitating instructions that must not be disposed
of
The following facilitating instructions must not
be disposed of:
(a)
those that are identified as having continuing
value (for example, records that are part of an actual business transaction
itself),
(b)
those that have policy or procedural
implications,
(c)
those that are identified as important to the
public office.
16Facilitating instructions that may be disposed
of
Facilitating instructions that can be disposed of
are those that are ephemeral. They may relate to such activities as the
following:
(a)
correcting typing errors,
(b)
file creation or retrieval,
(c)
filing a letter,
(d)
formatting records,
(e)
internal distribution lists for informational
purposes,
(f)
running off
duplicates.
Part 7Outgoing correspondence
17Definition of “outgoing
correspondence”
In this Part:
outgoing
correspondence means original correspondence that is sent
from a public office in the course of normal business
activities.
18Authorised copies of outgoing correspondence must not
be disposed of
Authorised copies of outgoing correspondence are
to be captured in an appropriate way within the public office’s
record-keeping system and must not be disposed of.
19Outgoing correspondence may be sent after capturing
authorised copies
After an authorised copy of outgoing
correspondence has been captured in an appropriate way within the public
office’s record-keeping system, the original may be sent from the public
office.
Part 8Messages
20Definition of
“messages”
In this Part:
messages includes messages in
the form of e-mail, voice mail, SMS (short message service) messages, instant
messaging, facsimiles, telephone messages, transmission reports or similar
records.
21Messages that must not be disposed
of
Messages that must not be disposed of are those
that are identified as having continuing value.
22Messages that may be disposed of
Messages that may be disposed of are:
(a)
those that are ephemeral, or
(b)
those of which a copy has been placed on the
relevant file or captured in an appropriate way within a public office
record-keeping system.
Part 9Stationery
23Stationery that may be disposed
of
Unused stationery items, such as unused
letterhead, volumes or forms, may be disposed of.
Part 10Solicited and unsolicited advertising
material
24Definition of “solicited and unsolicited
advertising material”
In this Part:
solicited and
unsolicited advertising material refers particularly to
advertising and other material generally known as “junk mail”. It
includes (but is not limited to) the following:
(a)
advertising
“flyers”,
(b)
brochures,
(c)
catalogues,
(d)
price lists.
25Disposal
Solicited and unsolicited advertising material
may be disposed of. Some catalogues may need to be placed on the appropriate
equipment or purchase files.
Part 11Temporarily taking records out of the
State
26Object
From time to time it may be necessary for records
to be taken out of the State for the conduct of official
business.
27Disposal
It is acceptable for an authorised person (who is
employed in a NSW Department or other NSW public office) to take records
temporarily out of the State for official business, but only if those records
are relevant or necessary to the conduct of that official business. Such
records are to remain in the custody of the authorised person and are to be
returned to the public office when no longer required for the conduct of that
business.
Historical notes
Table of amending instruments
State Records
Regulation 2015 (505). LW 28.8.2015. Date of commencement,
1.9.2015, cl 2. This Regulation has been amended as follows:
2017
(287)
State Records Amendment Regulation
2017. LW 23.6.2017.
Date of commencement, on publication on LW, cl
2.
No 66
Electoral Act
2017. Assented to 30.11.2017.
Date of commencement, 1.7.2018, sec 2 and 2018 (302) LW
29.6.2018.
Table of amendments
Sch 1
Am 2017 (287), cl 3; 2017 No
66, Sch 8.20.