Retention and disposal authorities review

Request for feedback on general retention and disposal authorities

Public offices in NSW have the opportunity to provide feedback to State Records NSW for consideration in its review of the following general authorities: 

• GA35 (issued 2009) which  authorises the transfer of records out of the State for the purposes of storage with or maintenance by service providers as required for the conduct of business operations.
• GA45 (issued 2015) which authorises the destruction of original or source records that have been copied.
• GA48 (issued 2018) which authorises the destruction of source records that have been migrated. 

State Records NSW has begun the process of reviewing the following general authorities: 

GA35  (issued 2009)

GA35 authorises the transfer of records out of the State for the purposes of storage with or maintenance by service providers as required for the conduct of business operations. The focus of this review will be to:

• provide clarification that permission is not required from State Records NSW to create records outside of NSW and Australia. While Section 21 (1)(c) of the State Records Act states that a person must not take or send a State record out of NSW without the permission of State Records NSW (provided by GA35), the Act does not prohibit the creation of records outside of NSW. Since GA35 was issued in 2009, working interstate and overseas, and the use of cloud-based software platforms located in Australia and internationally, has become more commonplace. Additional guidance will be provided about the management of State records created outside of NSW
• provide clarification that GA35 covers the storage of records outside of Australia
• examine the current prohibition on transferring State archives over 25 years of age outside of NSW
• examine the requirement for separate permission to transfer records for exhibitions and displays.
  State Records NSW will liaise with CyberSecurity NSW and Digital NSW as part of this review. 

GA45 (issued 2015)

GA45 authorises the destruction of original or source records that have been copied. The focus of this review will be to:

• Examine the 1980 date limiter. Currently there is no permission under GA45 to destroy originals of records that are required as State archives that were created prior to 1980. (These records can of course be transferred to Museums of History NSW). This date limiter has caused confusion amongst public offices and it has been interpreted as applying to all records created prior to 1980. Some of the options are to:
  • Retain the 1980 date limiter but re-word the disposal authority to make it clearer it only applies to State archives
  • remove permission to destroy any records required as State archives after copying (original records would be required to be transferred as State archives)
  • Adopt a different date limiter. The Northern Territory uses 1978, National Archives of Australia uses 1980, Victoria and Western Australia use 2000, South Australia 2005, New Zealand and Canada use 1940, USA 1950, ACT permits destruction of Territory archives between 1931 and 2000 with permission of Territory Records office and none before 1931. Queensland has no date limiter but prohibits destruction of records with intrinsic value, required for legal purpose or subject to a protection order.
• Examine the exclusion of audio-visual material. Currently there is no permission to destroy the originals of audio-visual material that is required as State archives.  We do not intend to amend other exclusions in GA45.

GA48 (issued 2018)

GA48 authorises the destruction of source records that have been migrated. The review will consider whether GA48 should be combined with GA45 so there is one authority covering copied and migrated records. 

Providing feedback

We would appreciate any feedback on the issues raised above and any other areas of concern, or where the disposal authorities are working well by 30 May 2025. Feedback can be emailed to govrec@staterecords.nsw.gov.au

Consultation closes on 30 May 2025