[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 74 (Friday, April 17, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Page 19368]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-10263]



[[Page 19367]]

_______________________________________________________________________

Part III





National Archives and Records Administration





_______________________________________________________________________



36 CFR Part 1228

General Records Schedule (GRS) 20; Notice and Final Rule

Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 74 / Friday, April 17, 1998 / 
Notices

[[Page 19368]]



NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION


General Records Schedule (GRS) 20

AGENCY: National Archives and Records Administration.

ACTION: Notice regarding General Records Schedule (GRS) 20.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In accordance with the Order of the United States District 
Court for the District of Columbia, dated April 9, 1998, in Public 
Citizen v. Carlin, Civil No. 96-2840, the Archivist of the United 
States issues the following statement:
    Notices previously published by the Archivist in the Federal 
Register on December 16,<SUP>1</SUP> 1997, 62 Fed. Reg. 65737-65738, 
and January 14, 1998, 63 Fed. Reg. 2268, which stated that disposition 
practices for electronic records are ``currently authorized under the 
National Archives and Records Administration's General Records Schedule 
20 (`GRS 20'),'' should have instead stated that GRS 20 has been 
declared null and void by the United States District Court for the 
District of Columbia.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ Editorial Note: The December notice was published on 
December 15, 1997.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The government has filed an appeal of the Court's declaratory 
judgment, but GRS-20 remains null and void pending resolution of that 
appeal. All federal agencies are advised that when submitting agency 
schedules to NARA for approval, electronic versions of records created 
on office automation applications should be scheduled in accordance 
with paragraph 5 of NARA Bulletin 98-02. NARA is currently working to 
develop an alternative approach to GRS-20 for the disposition of 
records created on word processing and electronic mail applications and 
has formed an interagency Electronic Records Work Group, consisting of 
select NARA staff, Federal records officers, and information management 
specialists, with oversight by the Deputy Archivist of the United 
States. The Work Group is to have recommendations to the Archivist by 
July 1 and an implementation plan by September 30, 1998. The Court has 
authorized the Archivist to state that a federal agency may continue to 
follow its present disposition practices for electronic records until: 
(1) September 30, 1998; (2) the agency has submitted and received 
approval from NARA on a Request for Records Disposition Authority; (3) 
notification by NARA that the appeal has been resolved and NARA has 
provided further guidance as a result of the appellate court's 
decision; or (4) further Order of the District Court.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Miller, Modern Records Program 
(NWM), National Archives and Records Administration, 8601 Adelphi Road, 
College Park, MD 20740-6001, (301) 713-7110. NARA Bulletin 98-02 is 
available on NARA's web site at <<a href="http://www.nara.gov/records/grs20/
bltn-grs.html">http://www.nara.gov/records/grs20/
bltn-grs.html</a>>. Further information about the Electronic Records Work 
Group is available at <http://www.nara.gov/records/grs20/index.html>.

    Dated: April 14, 1998.
John W. Carlin,
Archivist of the United States.
[FR Doc. 98-10263 Filed 4-16-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7515-01-P