All agencies need to take account of evidence legislation. A court may need to examine records as evidence of an organisation s decisions and actions. The Impact of the Evidence Act on Commonwealth Recordkeeping . Identifying recordkeeping requirements in legislation Agencies need to identify recordkeeping requirements when undertaking records appraisal or when designing and implementing a recordkeeping system . Part of this process is to identify the legislative requirements for creating, maintaining and disposing of Commonwealth records.
Some legislative requirements apply to many agencies.
Occupational health and safety legislation, for example, requires an organisation to keep certain types of records for certain periods of time. Requirements that apply to all agencies are included in the National Archives Administrative Functions Disposal Authority . Other legislative requirements apply only to the particular business of one agency. For example, copies of telephone taps must be destroyed once the Director-General of Security decides they are no longer needed. Each agency needs to be aware of the legislation governing its recordkeeping practices.