To establish policy for Tasmanian government agencies and authorities for the capture and management of electronic messages. Return to contents list Principles Effective management of electronic messages is essential for comprehensive records, information, and knowledge management.
Electronic messages are records in fact and in law.
Electronic messages are State records and State and local government employees are obliged to manage them in accordance with the provisions of the Archives Act 1983. Electronic messages, like records in other formats, are subject to legislation such as the Freedom of Information Act and to legal processes such as discovery and subpoenas. The identification, retention, and access principles applying to records in other formats should also be applied to those received and sent by electronic means. The contextual data such as name and position of sender and recipient, date and time of sending, copies forwarded, and links to replies and enclosed documents should also be captured and maintained. 1 Procedures for achieving this will be determined by the organisation's current records management practices.