MEMORANDUM FOR  All Network Users

FROM:           Sonya G. Stewart
		Director for Executive Budgeting
		  and Assistance Management

SUBJECT:        Retention of E-Mail Messages


This past summer, the National Archives and Records
Administration issued government-wide standards for the
management of Federal records that are created or received on
electronic mail (e-mail) systems.

Attached is guidance the Department has developed to assist
network users in determining when e-mail messages are official
records under the Federal Records Act of 1950 and, if they are
records, how to preserve them.

This guidance confirms existing Departmental policy that e-mail
messages that contain substantive information that is necessary
to adequately and properly document the activities and functions
of the Department must be printed out and filed with other
records that apply to the same transaction.

If you have any questions or need additional information, please
contact Dan Rooney, the Department's records management officer,
on 202-482-4458 (email: DRooney@doc.gov) or your bureau records
management officer.

________________________________________________________________

		   U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
	 REQUIREMENTS FOR RETAINING AND ARCHIVING E-MAIL

Introduction

This past summer, the National Archives and Records
Administration (NARA) promulgated government-wide regulations on
the preservation of agency records that contain information in
the electronic mail (e-mail) format.  The Department of Commerce
Records Management Officer reviewed Department Administrative
Order (DAO) 205-16, "Managing Electronic Records,"  It was
determined that DAO 216-13 is consistent with the new NARA
standards and does not require revision.  All employees should
take this opportunity to re-acquaint themselves with the
principles involved in preserving government information in the
e-mail format.

The purpose of this guidance is not to require the preservation
of every e-mail message.  Its purpose is to ensure the
preservation of those messages that contain information that is
necessary to ensure the preservation of those messages that are
necessary for the adequate and proper documentation of the
Department's policies, programs, and activities.  E-mail message
creators and recipients must decide whether a particular message
is appropriate for preservation.  In making these decisions, all
personnel should exercise the same judgment they use when
determining whether to retain and file paper records.

I. Principles Governing E-Mail

All Government employees and contractors are required by law to
make and preserve records containing adequate and proper
documentation of the organization, functions, policies,
decisions, procedures, and essential transactions of the agency
(Federal Records Act. or "FRA," 44 U.S.C. 3101 et seq.).  In
addition, Federal regulations govern the life cycle of these
records: they must be properly stored, preserved, and available
for retrieval, and may be disposed of only in accordance with
approved records disposition schedules.

Many e-mail messages (as well as other electronically based
records, e.g., databases on personal computers) are Federal
records under the provisions of the FRA.  The following guidance
is designed to help you determine which e-mail messages should be
preserved as Federal records and which may be deleted without
further authorization because they are not Federal record
materials.

II.  Which E-Mail Messages Are Records

E-mail messages are records when they meet the definition of
records in the Federal Records Act.  The definition states the
documentary materials are Federal records when they:

  are made or received by an agency under Federal law or in
   connection with public business; and 

  are preserved or are appropriate for preservation as evidence
   of the organization, functions, policies, decisions,
   procedures, operations, or other activities of the Government,
   or because of the informational value of the data in them.

Under FRA regulations (36 CFR 1222.38), principal categories of
materials, including e-mail, that are to be preserved include:

  records that document the formulation and execution of basic
   policies and decisions and the taking of necessary actions;

  records that document important meetings;

  records that facilitate action by agency officials and their
   successors in office;

  records that make possible a proper scrutiny by the Congress
   or other duly authorized agencies of the Government; and

  records that protect the financial, legal, and other rights of
   the Government and of persons directly affected by the
   Government's actions.

For example, just like paper records, e-mail messages that may
constitute Federal records include:

  E-mail providing key substantive comments on a draft action
   memorandum, if the e-mail message is necessary for a proper
   understanding of the formulation or execution of Department
   action;

  E-mail providing documentation of significant Department
   decisions and commitments reached orally (person to person, by
   telecommunications, or in conference) and not otherwise
   documented in Department files;

  E-mail conveying information of value on important Department 
   activities, e.g., data on significant programs specially
   compiled in response to a Department call if the e-mail
   message adds to a proper understanding of Department
   operations and responsibilities.

III. How to Preserve E-mail Records

For those e-mail messages and attachments that meet the statutory
definition of records, it is essential to ensure that the record
documentation includes the e-mail message, any attachments, and
essential transmission data (i.e., who sent the message, the
addressees and any other recipients, and when it was sent).  In
addition, information about the receipt of messages should be
retained when it is needed for adequate and proper documentation
of Department activities, especially when it is necessary to
confirm that an addressee received or viewed a message.  Until
technology allowing archival capabilities for long-term
electronic storage and retrieval of e-mail messages is available
and installed, those messages warranting preservation as records
(for periods longer than current e-mail systems routinely
maintain them) should be printed out and filed with related
records.  If transmission and necessary receipt data are not
printed by the particular e-mail system, the paper copies must be
annotated as necessary to include such data.  

IV. Points to Remember about E-Mail 

  Before deleting any E-mail message, apply these guidelines to
   determine whether it meets the legal definition of a record
   and if so, print it.

  Be certain the printed message kept as a record contains the
   essential transmission and receipt data; if not, print the
   data or annotate the printed copy.

  File the printed messages and essential transmission and
   receipt data with related files of the office.  Dispose of the
   printed messages in accordance with the records disposition
   instructions for the records with which they are filed.

  Messages that are not records may be deleted when no longer
   needed.

  Certain e-mail messages that are not Federal records may still
   be subject to pending requests and demands under the Freedom
   of Information Act, the Privacy Act, and litigation and court
   orders, and should be preserved until no longer needed for
   such purposes.  However, such messages should not be preserved
   solely in anticipation of the possibility of receiving such
   requests for information.

  When e-mail is retained as a record, the period of its
   retention is governed by records retention schedules.  Under
   those schedules, records are kept for detailed periods of time
   pending destruction or transfer to the National Archives.

  To assist in the preservation of e-mail messages, make use of
   the available technology to the extent possible.  For example,
   if your software allows it, exercise the option to include the
   message received in your reply to the sender.

Points of Contact:

Additional information is available from Dan Rooney, Department
of Commerce Records Management Officer, 202-482-4458, or your
bureau records management officer.



References:

   National Archives and Records Administration Final Rule on
Electronic Mail Systems, August 28, 1995 (36 CFR Parts 1220,
1222, 1228, and 1234.)

   Department Administrative Order (DAO) 205-1, "Records
Management," June 26, 1992.

   DAO 205-16, "Managing Electronic Records," May 12, 1987.

__________________________________________________________________
For further information contact:

	Dan Rooney
	Phone:  202-482-4458
	Email:  DRooney@doc.gov