36 C.F.R. Subpart A—General
Title 36 - Parks, Forests, and Public Property
(a) 44 U.S.C. 2904, vests in the Archivist of the United States responsibility for providing guidance and assistance to Federal agencies with respect to ensuring adequate and proper documentation of the policies and transactions of the Federal Government, including developing and issuing standards to improve the management of records. (b) 44 U.S.C. 3101, requires that the head of each Federal agency shall make and preserve records containing adequate and proper documentation of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, and essential transactions of the agency and designed to furnish the information necessary to protect the legal and financial rights of the Government and of persons directly affected by the agency's activities. (c) 44 U.S.C. 3102, requires that the head of each Federal agency shall establish and maintain an active, continuing program for the economical and efficient management of the records of the agency. The program, among other things, shall provide for— (1) Effective controls over the creation, and over the maintenance and use of records in the conduct of current business; (2) Cooperation with the Administrator of General Services and the Archivist in applying standards, procedures, and techniques designed to improve the management of records, promote the maintenance and security of records deemed appropriate for preservation, and facilitate the segregation and disposal of records of temporary value. (a) The statutory definition of Federal records is contained in 44 U.S.C. 3301 and is stated in §1220.14 of this chapter. (b) Several key terms, phrases, and concepts in the statutory definition of records are defined as follows: (1) Documentary materials is a collective term for records, nonrecord materials, and personal papers that refers to all media containing recorded information, regardless of the nature of the media or the method(s) or circumstance(s) of recording. (2) Regardless of physical form or characteristics means that the medium may be paper, film, disk, or other physical type or form; and that the method of recording may be manual, mechanical, photographic, electronic, or any other combination of these or other technologies. (3) Made means the act of creating and recording information by agency personnel in the course of their official duties, regardless of the method(s) or the medium involved. The act of recording is generally identifiable by the circulation of the information to others or by placing it in files accessible to others. (4) Received means the acceptance or collection of documentary materials by agency personnel in the course of their official duties regardless of their origin (for example, other units of their agency, private citizens, public officials, other agencies, contractors, Government grantees) and regardless of how transmitted (in person or by messenger, mail, electronic means, or by any other method). In this context, the term does not refer to misdirected materials. It may or may not refer to loaned or seized materials depending on the conditions under which such materials came into agency custody or were used by the agency. Advice of legal counsel should be sought regarding the “record” status of loaned or seized materials. (5) Preserved means the filing, storing, or any other method of systematically maintaining documentary materials by the agency. This term covers materials not only actually filed or otherwise systematically maintained but also those temporarily removed from existing filing systems. (6) Appropriate for preservation means documentary materials made or received which in the judgment of the agency should be filed, stored, or otherwise systematically maintained by an agency because of the evidence of agency activities or information they contain, even though the materials may not be covered by its current filing or maintenance procedures. [55 FR 27423, July 2, 1990; 55 FR 31982, Aug. 6, 1990]
Title 36: Parks, Forests, and Public Property
PART 1222—CREATION AND MAINTENANCE OF FEDERAL RECORDS
Subpart A—General
§ 1222.10 Authority.
§ 1222.12 Defining Federal records.
