Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1696587643637.pdf (Vanuatu)
CODE OF PRACTICE ON RECORDS & INFORMATION MANAGEMENT GOVERNMENT OF VANUATU Published by the Right To Informaon Unit Department of Strategic Planning, Policy & Aid Coordinaon Oﬃce of the Prime Minister Republic of Vanuatu Published in 2019.
CONTENT Foreword Introducon Aim Scope Keeping Records Creaon of Records Filing Systems Storage & Maintenance of Records Security & Access Management of Records Monitoring & Evaluaon Records Management Training Disposal, Retenon & Transfer of Records to Naonal Archives Disposal of Records General principal Public Archives not to be Destroyed or Disposed if Without the Authority of the Archivist Destrucon of Roune Public Archives Documenng the Destrucon of Records Transfer of Records to Naonal Archives of Vanuatu Deposit of Public Archives to the Naonal Archives of Vanuatu Deposit of Public Archives of less than Fieen Years of Age Public Records & Archives not in the Naonal Archives Return of Public Archives to Government Oﬃce Public Archives & Records to be Surrendered on Demand Publicaon of Public Archives Copyright Access aer Transfer of Public Records Annex A Glossary 1 Government of Vanuatu Code of Pracce on Records & Informaon Management #raetblongsave Code of Pracce on Records & Informaon Management 1 FOREWORD INTRODUCTION The Code of Pracce (“the Code”) which follows fulﬁls the funcon of the Right to Informaon Unit as set out in secon 72 of the Right to Informaon Act No.
13 of 2016.

The Right to Informaon Act No.

13 of 2016 enables the public to access informaon held by Vanuatu public authories.

This regime requires government agencies, relevant private enes and private enes to either make available informaon requested by an applicant or to explain why the request for informaon is not granted.

Secon 72 of the Right to Informaon Act No.


13 of 2016 states that the RTI Unit must, aer consulng all relevant and interested pares, and on the recommendaon of the Archivist appointed under secon 5 of the Archives Act 13 of 1992, issue within 12 months of the commencement of the RTI Act, a Code of Pracce (the Code) relang to the creaon, keeping, management and disposal of records and the transfer of records to the Naonal Archives.
This Code is prepared by the RTI Unit with consultaon from the Archivist of the Naonal Archives, the Naonal Records and Informaon Management Development Commiee on the content of the Code.

The Code of Pracce (“the Code”) fulﬁls the funcons of the Right to Informaon Unit set out in secon 69 of the Right to Informaon Act No 13 of 2016.
IMPORTANCE OF RECORDS MANAGEMENT Records management ensures successful achievement of the Peoples Plan Social pillar 6 to create strong and eﬀecve instuons and guarantee the public's right to informaon.

Cizen's access to reliable informaon is a core component of the Naonal Sustainable Development Plan and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's).
1 Beneﬁts of Records Management include more eﬀecve management of your current records (both paper and electronic); a reduced / eliminated level of record-keeping redundancies; reduced costs for records storage equipment and supplies; and increased usable oﬃce space through the eliminaon of unnecessary ﬁle storage.

In addion, Records Management provides instuonal accountability and mely access to informaon.
The Code is a supplement to the provisions in the Right to Informaon Act and its adopon will help government agencies and relevant private enes comply with their dues under the Right to Informaon Act.

Therefore, all government agencies and relevant private enes are strongly encouraged to pay heed to the guidance in the Code.

Government agencies and relevant private enes should note that if they fail to comply with the Code, they may also fail to comply with Right to Informaon Act.
1 Vanuatu 2030: the people's plan: Naonal Sustainable Development Plan 2016 to 2030 / Department of Strategic Policy, Planning and Aid Coordinaon, 2016.
Government of Vanuatu Code of Pracce on Records & Informaon Management #raetblongsave Code of Pracce on Records & Informaon Management 2 FOREWORD ROLE OF THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION UNIT The Right to Informaon (RTI) Unit has the following funcons: T o provide secretariat support to the Right to Informaon Steering Commiee; T o serve as a central resource for Right to Informaon oﬃcers; T o develop and monitor the Naonal Implementaon Plan; T o train Right to Informaon Oﬃcers and oﬃcers; T o engage with civil society to promote the use and understanding of the Act by the public; T o develop educaonal materials for oﬃcers and the general public; T o develop and execute public educaon acvies suited to Vanuatu socio-economic context; T o develop a Naonal Code of Pracce on informaon and records management; T o establish and reﬁne reporng and monitoring mechanisms between itself, Agencies or Enes and the Oﬃce of the Informaon Commissioner.
ROLE OF THE ARCHIVIST OF THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES Records are crucial to organisaons, parcularly in this informaon age.

Reliable informaon depends on good record keeping.

The Archivist shall be charged with care, custody, control and administraon of the public archives in the Naonal Archives and the public access to the Naonal Archives and with performance of any other dues prescribed by the Archives Act.
The Archivist may from me to me delegate in wring any of his powers under this Act except the power of authorizing the destrucon or disposal of public archives, to any public servant.
Subject to any general or special direcons given or condions aached by the Archivist, the public servant to whom any powers are delegated under this secon may exercise those powers in the same manner and with the same eﬀect as if they had been conferred on him directly by this secon and not by a delegaon: Every delegaon under this secon shall, unl it is revoked, connue in force according to its tenor, notwithstanding the fact that the Archivist by whom it was made may have ceased to hold oﬃce, and shall connue to have eﬀect as if made by his successor in oﬃce.
Government of Vanuatu Code of Pracce on Records & Informaon Management #raetblongsave Code of Pracce on Records & Informaon Management 3 CODE OF PRACTICE Right to Informaon Act No.

13 of 2016, secon 72 Guidance to relevant authories on (a) The creaon, keeping, management and disposal of records; and (b) The transfer of records to the Naonal Archives.
The Right to Informaon Unit, having consulted all relevant interested pares, and on the recommendaon of the Archivist appointed under secon 5 of the Archives Act [CAP 216] , issues the following Code of Pracce pursuant to secon 72 of the Right to Informaon Act No.

13 of 2016.

INTRODUCTION 1.


Aim The aims of the Code are: To set out the pracces which government agencies and relevant private enes should follow in relaon 2 to the creaon, keeping, management and destrucon of their records; and T o describe the arrangements which government agencies and relevant private enes should follow in reviewing public records and transferring them to the Naonal Archives of Vanuatu.

2.
2.

Scope of the Code The scope of the Code applies to all records irrespecve of the technology used to create and store them or the type of informaon they contain.

It includes, therefore, not only paper ﬁle series and digital records management systems but also business and informaon systems and the contents of websites.
The Code's focus is on records and the systems that contain them, but the principles and recommended pracce can be applied also to other informaon held by a government agency or relevant private enty.

KEEPING RECORDS 3.

Creaon of Records Government agencies and relevant private enes must have in place a process for documenng its acvies in respect of records management.
This should take into account the legislave and regulatory environment in which the government agency or relevant private enty operates.
Records of operaonal acvies should be complete and accurate in order to allow employees and their successors to undertake appropriate acons in the context of their responsibilies, to facilitate an audit of the agency or enty by anyone so authorized, to protect legal and other rights of the government agency or relevant private enty, its staﬀ and any other aﬀected by its acons and provide authencaon of the records so that evidence derived from them is shown to be creditable and authoritave.
Records created by the government agency or relevant private enty should be arranged in a record-keeping system that will enable the organizaon to obtain maximum beneﬁt from the quick and easy retrieval of informaon.

2 Government agency is deﬁned in the RTI Act as an agency which includes the State, the Government, a Constuonal enty and any other Government agency that is prescribed by the Minister under subsecon 2(4) of the RTI Act.
Government of Vanuatu Code of Pracce on Records & Informaon Management #raetblongsave Code of Pracce on Records & Informaon Management 4 4.

FILING SYSTEMS 4.1 A record keeping system is the tool to manage records.
It is a manual or automated informaon system having the necessary funconality that enables it to carry out and support the carious records management processes such as collecon, organizaon and classiﬁcaon of records to facilitate their retrieval, distribuon, use, disposal or preservaon.

When designing and implemenng a record keeping system, an organizaon should ensure that it can meet the organizaon's records management policy, requirements, pracces, guidelines and procedures.
4.2 To serve its purpose, a record keeping system should have the following characteriscs: Reliability: It should be capable of connuous and regular operaon in accordance with established guidelines and procedures; Integrity: Access and security measures should be in place to prevent unauthorized access, destrucon, alteraon or removal of records; Compliance: It should be managed to comply with all requirements arising from the legal and regulatory environment and business, and expectaons in which the organizaon operates; Comprehensiveness: It should be able to manage records in any formats captured from diﬀerent acvies and transacons of the organizaon; and Systemac: It should be able to capture, maintain and manage records systemacally.
4.3 In light of the increasing use of electronic exchanges for oﬃcial transacons, an organizaon may pursue the development of an electronic document and records management system (EDRMS) to assist it in managing both non-electronic and electronic records in an integrated and consistent manner.

5.

STORAGE & MAINTENANCE OF RECORDS 5.1 The code says that a government agency or relevant private enty should know what records it holds and where they are.
It should ensure that records remain usable for as long as they are required.

5.2 A government agency or relevant private enty should decide the format for the storage of it records.

It is likely to hold records and informaon in a number of diﬀerent electronic and manual systems.

The government agencies and relevant private enty should ensure that appropriate storage and preservaon arrangements are in place, especially if there are any speciﬁc legal requirements for parcular records.
5.3 Special care and monitoring is recommended in the case of vulnerable or sensive material and paper ﬁles.

A government agency or relevant private enty should consider keeping back-up copies of records in digital systems in a secure separate locaon.

5.4 All informaon held by a government agency or relevant private enty is treated the same for the purposes of RTI, regardless of whether it is stored in a diﬀerent locaon.
It is important for a government agency and relevant private enty to apply its records management policies consistently, even though it may store its records across more than one site.

This minimizes any issues when dealing with an informaon request.

6.

SECURITY & ACCESS 6.1 A government agency and relevant private enty should ensure that its arrangements for storage, handling and transmission of records 'reﬂect accepted standards and good pracce in informaon security.
A government agency or relevant private enty should already have an informaon security policy in place in order to comply with the requirements of the Code of Pracce.

.

Government of Vanuatu Code of Pracce on Records & Informaon Management #raetblongsave Code of Pracce on Records & Informaon Management 5 5 6.2 A government agency should restrict internal access where necessary, especially with personal data or conﬁdenal informaon.
There should be an audit trail of access to and transfer of records.

The government agency or relevant private enty should put in place a requirement for prior authorizaon for the transmission of records, especially outside its own premises.

7.

MANAGEMENT OF RECORDS 7.1 All government agencies and relevant private enes note the Naonal Records and Informaon Management Plan and their responsibilies as outlined in the Naonal Policy.
7.2 The policy should be endorsed by senior management, for example at board level, and should be readily available to staﬀ at all levels.

7.3 The policy provides a mandate for the records and informaon management funcon and a framework for supporng standards, procedures and guidelines.
The precise contents will depend on the parcular needs and culture of the authority but it should as a minimum: a) b) c) d) e) f) Set out the government agency and relevant private enty's commitment to create, keep and manage records which document its principal acvies; Outline the role of records management and it relaonship to the government agency and relevant private enty's overall business strategy; Idenfy and make appropriate connecons to related policies, such as those dealing with email, informaon security and data protecon; Deﬁne roles and responsibilies, including the responsibility of individuals to document their work in the government agency or relevant private enty's records to the extent that, and in the way that, the government agency or relevant private enty has decided their work should be documented, and to use those records appropriately; Indicate how compliance with the policy and the supporng standards, procedures and guidelines will be monitored.
7.4 The policy should be kept up-to-date so that it reﬂects the current needs of the government agency or relevant private enty.

One way of ensuring this is to review it at agreed intervals, for example every three or ﬁve years, and aer major organisaonal or technological changes, in order to assess whether it needs amendment.

7.5 The government agency or relevant private enty should consider publishing the policy so that members of the public can see the basis on which it manages its records.

8.
8.

MONITORING & EVALUATION 8.1 A government agency or relevant private enty should undertake compliance monitoring regularly to ensure that the records management processes and controls are being implemented according to the organizaonal policies and requirements.

This is to ensure management programme is funconing eﬀecvely.

8.2 A government agency or relevant private enty should also consider the arrangements to deal with cases involving loss or unauthorized destrucon of records.
It should properly follow up any loss or unauthorized destrucon of records, including ascertaining the facts and idenfying the circumstances leading to the loss or unauthorized destrucon, taking steps to prevent recurrence and taking disciplinary acon or administrave acon as appropriate.

8.3 Monitoring should be undertaken on a regular basis and the results should be reported to the senior management and also included in the RTI Oﬃcers report to the RTI Unit on a monthly basis.
Government of Vanuatu Code of Pracce on Records & Informaon Management #raetblongsave Code of Pracce on Records & Informaon Management 56 Good Pracces A government agency or relevant private enty should conduct regular review of its records management programme and pracces to: Assess its compliance with key records management funcons and requirements.

Idenfy areas requiring improvement with regard to desirable best pracces and formulaon of plans to implement improvement measures.
The review and recommended improvements should be endorsed by the management.

9.

RECORDS MANAGEMENT TRAINING 9.1 A government or relevant private enty should establish an ongoing training programme for its staﬀ to provide them with adequate knowledge and skills on records management requirements and pracces, parcularly on creang records during their work, capturing those records into and managing them in designated record keeping systems.
9.2 9.3 For records management staﬀ, including records managers, registry supervisors and registry staﬀ, speciﬁc records management training should be provided to them on records management concepts, principles and pracces, covering such topics as records classiﬁcaon, records scheduling and disposal, and records capturing.

Records management training should be provided to staﬀ at the appropriate ming to facilitate their work.
For example, records management training should form part of the inducon programme for new staﬀ.

Refresher training should be arranged for serving staﬀ on regular basis.

Seminars on topical records management issues (e.g.

promulgaon of new guidelines) should be arranged to keep staﬀ abreast of new development of records management in the organizaon.
Good Pracces A government agency or relevant private enty should arrange records management training for its staﬀ at diﬀerent levels on the following important topics: Records management policy and requirements of the government agency or relevant private enty.

Records management roles and responsibilies.

Filing pracces.

Records classiﬁcaon and coding.

Records scheduling and disposal.

Electronic records management (if appropriate).


Government of Vanuatu Code of Pracce on Records & Informaon Management #raetblongsave Code of Pracce on Records & Informaon Management 57 DISPOSAL, RETENTION & TRANSFER OF RECORDS TO NATIONAL ARCHIVES 10.

D ISPOSAL OF RECORDS Government agencies and relevant private enes should deﬁne how long they need to keep parcular records, should dispose of them when they are no longer needed and should be able to explain why records are no longer held.
10.1 For the purpose of this Code, disposal means the decision as to whether the record should be destroyed or transferred to the Naonal Archives.

General Principle 10.2 As a general principle, records should be kept for as long as they are needed by the government agency or relevant private enty: for reference or accountability purposes, to comply with regulatory requirements or to protect legal and other rights and interests.
Destrucon at the end of this period ensures that oﬃce and server space are not used and costs are not incurred in maintaining records that are no longer required.

10.3 Records should not be kept aer they have ceased to be of use to the government agency or relevant private enty unless: a) b) c) They are known to be the subject of ligaon or a request for informaon.
If so, destrucon should be delayed unl the ligaon is complete or, in the case of a request for informaon, all relevant complaint and appeal provisions have been exhausted; They have long – term value for historical or other research and have been or should be selected for permanent preservaon.
(Note that records containing personal informaon can be kept indeﬁnitely for historical research purposes because they thereby become exempt under the RTI Act) They contain or relate to informaon recently released in response to a request under the RTI Act.

This may indicate historical value and destrucon should be delayed while this is re-assessed.
Public Archives not to be Destroyed or Disposed of Without the Authority of the Archivist 10.4 No person shall destroy or otherwise dispose of, or authorize the destrucon or other disposal of, any public archives of any kind whatsoever that are in his possession or under his control, except with the consent of Archivist.
10.5 Before authorizing the destrucon of any public archives or any class of public archives, the Archivist may, if he thinks ﬁt, consult with any person who the Archivist considers qualiﬁed to advise him as to the value of any such public archives for permanent preservaon.
Destrucon of Roune Public Archives 10.6 The Archivist may authorize the immediate destrucon, or the destrucon aer the expiraon of such speciﬁed me as may be agreed upon between the Archivist and the head of the Government oﬃce concerned, of any speciﬁed classes of public archives that - a) b) By reason of their number, kind or roune nature do not in his opinion possess any enduring value for preservaon in the Naonal Archives as public archives; and Are not required for reference purposes in any Government oﬃce aer acon on them is completed, or aer the expiraon of such period of years from the date on which acon on them is completed as may be agreed upon between the3 Archivist and the head of the Government concerned.
Government of Vanuatu Code of Pracce on Records & Informaon Management #raetblongsave Code of Pracce on Records & Informaon Management 58 Documenng the Destrucon of Records 10.7 Details of destrucon of records should be kept, either as part of the audit trail metadata or separately.

Ideally, some evidence should be kept indeﬁnitely because the previous existence of records may be relevant informaon.
10.8 At the very least it should be possible to provide evidence that as part of roune records management processes destrucon of a speciﬁed type of record of a speciﬁed age range took place in accordance with a speciﬁed provision of the disposal schedule.

Government of Vanuatu Code of Pracce on Records & Informaon Management #raetblongsave Code of Pracce on Records & Informaon Management 59 11.
TRANSFER OF RECORDS TO NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF VANUATU Public archives of Vanuatu which are considered worth permanent preservaon shall be deposited and preserved in the Naonal Archives.
Deposit of Public Archives to the Naonal Archives of Vanuatu 11.1 All public archives of the age of ﬁeen years or over (other than those which are under any Act are required to be held in the custody of a speciﬁed person or Government oﬃce) which in the opinion of the Archivist are of suﬃcient value to warrant their preservaon as - a) Evidence of the organisaon, funcons and transacons of the Government oﬃce in which they were originally made or received; or b) Evidence of public or private personal or property rights or civic rights; or c) Containing historical or general informaon.
Shall be transferred to the custody of the Archivist and be deposited in the Naonal Archives.
11.2 Notwithstanding subsecon 11.1; a) b) c) Where the Archivist is sasﬁed that the deposit in the Naonal Archives of any parcular public archives of the age ﬁeen years or over would unduly prejudice the eﬀecve administraon of any Government oﬃce, he or she shall defer the deposit of the public archives for such period as may be agreed upon between the Archivist and the head of the Government oﬃce aﬀected; Where the head of the Government oﬃce having the possession or control of any public archives sasﬁes the Archivist that by reason of its secret or conﬁdenal it nature would not be in the public interest immediately to deposit that archives in the Naonal Archives, the Archivist shall from me to me defer the deposit of that public archives for such period as may be agreed upon between the head of the Government oﬃce and the Archivist; Where the Minister in charge of any Government oﬃce cerﬁed that in his opinion any speciﬁed archives or speciﬁed class of public archives in the custody or control of the Government oﬃce contains informaon that release of which may adversely aﬀect the security of Vanuatu or relaons between the Government of Vanuatu and the government of any other country, the deposit in the Naonal Archives of that public archives or of public archives of that class shall be deferred for such period or shall be made subject to such condions as to access or otherwise as that Minister from me to me directs; d) Where the deposit of any public archives in the Naonal Archives is deferred under paragraphs (a), (b) or (c),the Archivist may impose any condions he thinks ﬁt to ensure the safe preservaon of any such archives during the me they are kept in a Government oﬃce.
11.3 Any public archives deposited may be deposited uncondionally or, if the head of the Government oﬃce making the deposit so requires, shall be deposited subject to such condions as to access and otherwise as may be agreed upon from me to me by the Archivist and the head of the Government oﬃce.
11.4 Where the head of any Government oﬃce and the Archivist are unable to agree as to whether or not the deposit of any public archives in the Naonal Archives should be deferred or as to the period for which that deposit should be deferred or as the condions as to access and otherwise on which any public archives should be deposited, that queson shall be determined by the Minister acng in accordance with the advice of the Council of Ministers, and his decision shall be ﬁnal.
Government of Vanuatu Code of Pracce on Records & Informaon Management #raetblongsave Code of Pracce on Records & Informaon Management 510 Deposit of Public Archives of less that Fieen Years of Age 11.5 The Archivist may allow the deposit in the Naonal Archives of public archives of less than ﬁeen years of age if he considers that they are of suﬃcient value for deposit.
11.6 Any deposit of public archives may be subject to any special condions imposed by the head of the Government oﬃce making the deposit.
Public Records & Archives not in the Naonal Archives 11.7 The Archivist may from me to me inspect, any public records or public archives that are for the me being in the possession or under the control of any Government oﬃce and give instrucons as to their safe preservaon and such advice as to their eﬃcient and economical administraon and management as he considers necessary.
Return of Public Archives to Government Oﬃce 11.8 Where the head of the Government oﬃce by which any public archives was deposited in the Naonal Archives or head of the successor of that Government oﬃce, sasﬁed the Archivist that the public archives is required for use in that Government oﬃce, the Archivist shall return the public archives to the custody of that Government oﬃce for such period as may be agreed upon between the Archivist and head of the Government oﬃce, and subject to such condions as the Archivist may impose to ensure the safe custody and preservaon of that public archives during the me it is kept in the Government oﬃce.
Public Archives & Records to be Surrendered on Demand 11.9 Where any public archives or public record (being an archives or a record that is the property of the Government) is in the custody or possession of any person, other than a Government oﬃce, a public oﬃcer or other person authorized to have such custody or possession in his oﬃcial capacity, and the original of that public archives or public record is not in the possession of any Government oﬃce or deposited in the Naonal Archives, that person shall, on demand in wring by the Archivist, deposit that public archives or public record in the Naonal Archives.
11.10 Subject to - a) Any wring law providing for any informaon or records to be kept secret; b) Any condions under which any archives are deposited; c) Any orders or regulaons made under the Archives Act.

All archives deposited in the Naonal Archives shall be available for public reference.
Provided that; a) b) The Archivist may, for any good cause, withhold access to any speciﬁed class of public archives in this custody subject to the right of the person so denied to appeal to the Minister, who decision shall thereon be ﬁnal; Any public archives deposited in the Naonal Archives by any court and containing any informaon relang to the trial or punishment of any parcular person may be inspected only by a person authorize in wring by the Chief Jusce or by any other person authorized by the Chief Jusce in that behalf.
Government of Vanuatu Code of Pracce on Records & Informaon Management #raetblongsave Code of Pracce on Records & Informaon Management 511 Publicaon of Public Archives 11.11 On the recommendaon of the Archivist, the Minister responsible for Archives may authorize the publicaon of any public archives deposited in the Naonal Archives and available for public reference which he considered to be of suﬃcient interest to warrant their publicaon.
Copyright 11.12 Nothing in this Code shall derogate from any provision of the law relang to copyright in relaon to any contained in ay public archives deposited in the Naonal Archives under the provisions of the Archives Act.

11.13 Where any person publishes any work containing any passage from any public archives deposited in the Naonal Archives, he or she shall in that publicaon acknowledge the source from which that passage is taken.
Access aer Transfer of Public Records 11.14 Subject to - a) Any wrien law providing for any informaon or records to be kept secret; b) Any condions under which any archives are deposited; c) Any orders or regulaons made under the Archives Act.

All archives deposited in the Naonal Archives shall be available for public reference.
Provided that - a) b) The Archivist may, for any good cause, withhold access to any speciﬁed class of public archives in this custody subject to the right of the person so denied access to appeal to the Minister, whose decision thereon shall be ﬁnal; Any public archives deposited in the Naonal Archives by any court and containing any informaon relang to the trial or punishment of any parcular person may be inspected only by a person authorized in wring by the Chief Jusce or by any other person authorized by the Chief Jusce in that behalf.
11.15 None of the acons described in this Code aﬀects the statutory rights of access established under the RTI Act.

Request for exempt informaon in public records transferred to the Naonal Archives will be dealt with on a case by case basis in accordance with the provision of the RTI Act.

11.16 When an exempon has ceased to apply under secon 51 of the RTI Act the records will become automacally available for members of the public at the date speciﬁed according to secon 51 of the RTI Act.
11.17 In other cases, if the government agency or relevant private enty concerned wishes to extend the period during which the informaon is to be withheld, it should submit a further schedule explaining the sensivity of this informaon.

This is to be done according to secon 51 of the RTI Act.
Government of Vanuatu Code of Pracce on Records & Informaon Management #raetblongsave Code of Pracce on Records & Informaon Management 11 Annex A Glossary Archivist - A person professionally responsible for the management of archival records.

Custody - The responsibility for the care and management of archives, based upon their physical possession.

Custody does not always include legal ownership, or the right to control access to records.
Digital records - Records created, communicated and maintained by means of electronic or computer equipment.

Disposal – the decision as to whether the record should be destroyed, transferred to an archives service for permanent preservaon or presented and the pung into eﬀect of that decision.

Disposal schedules – schedules that idenfy types of records and specify for how long they will be kept before they are destroyed, designated for permanent preservaon or subjected to a further review.
Document – means any record set out in wrien or printed paper that bears the original, oﬃcial or legal form of something and can be used as evidence or informaon.

Government agency –includes; a)T he state; and, b)T he Government; and, c)A constuonal enty; and, d)A ny other Government agency that is prescribed by the Minister under subsecon 2(4) of the RTI Act.

Informaon –has the same meaning as record.


1 Keeping records –in the context of this Code, keeping records includes recording the government agency or relevant private enty's acvies by creang documents and other types of records as well as handling material received.

Metadata –informaon about the context within which records were created, their structure and how they have been managed over me.

Metadata can refer to records within digital systems.
It can also refer to systems such as paper ﬁles that are controlled either from a digital system or by a register or card index, for example the tle and locaon.
Record –means informaon held in any form or medium by a Government agency, relevant private enty or private enty, whether or not it was created by any of them or came into existence before the commencement of the RTI Act, and includes: a)A record in wring; or, b)A document, manuscript and ﬁle; or, c)A ﬁlm (including microﬁlm), negave, microﬁche and facsimile copy of a document; or, d)A map, plan, graph or drawing; or, e)A photograph; or f)A disc, tape, sound track or other device in which sounds or other data are embodied, whether electronically or otherwise, so as to be capable (with or without the aid of some other equipment) of being reproduced; or, g)A n email, memo, opinion, advice, press releases, circular, order, logbook, contract, report, samples and models.
Record-keeping systems - Informaon systems that are speciﬁcally designed to capture, protect, store and manage data or documents as reliable records for as long as they are needed to sasfy business, legal, ﬁscal, and historical requirements.
Government of Vanuatu Code of Pracce on Records & Informaon Management #raetblongsave Code of Pracce on Records & Informaon Management 12 Annex A Glossary Relevant private enty –means an enty; a)T hat is owned, controlled or substanally ﬁnanced directly or indirectly by funds provided by the Government, but only to the extent of that ﬁnancing; or, b)T hat carried out statutory or public services or funcons, whether ﬁnanced directly or indirectly by funds provided by the Government or other sources but only to the extent of the statutory or public services or funcons; or, c)W hich the Minister by order designates as relevant private enty Right to informaon –means the right to informaon that is accessible under the RTI Act and which is held by or under control of a Government agency, relevant private enty or private enty, and includes, but is not limited to the right to: a)T ake notes, extracts or cerﬁed copies of records or informaon; or, b)I nspect work, documents or records; or c)T ake cerﬁed samples of material; or, d) Obtain informaon in the form of compact discs, diskees, ﬂoppy discs, tapes, video cassees or in any other electronic mode or through printouts where such informaon is stored in a computer or in any other device.
1 Government of Vanuatu Code of Pracce on Records & Informaon Management #raetblongsave CODE OF PRACTICE ON RECORDS & INFORMATION MANAGEMENT GOVERNMENT OF VANUATU