Policy on accessibility of equipment and technology dependent records

The Policy on accessibility of equipment and technology dependent records establishes principles underpinning the requirements for public offices to ensure accessibility to equipment- and technology-dependent State records.

Purpose

This policy establishes principles underpinning the requirements for public offices to ensure accessibility to equipment- and technology-dependent State records for as long as required. 

Background

Public offices are required to maintain accessibility to equipment- and technology-dependent records (State Records Act 1998, s 14). This may require migration of existing records into new technology, creating records or copies of records using technology that outlast technological change, or by retaining existing technology

Scope

This policy applies to all NSW public offices covered by Part 2 of the State Records Act. Public offices 
covered by Part 2 are: 

  • NSW Government agencies, authorities and departments, State owned corporations, councils, 
    universities, and the public health system, and
  • the Houses of Parliament, Courts and Tribunals to the extent that such bodies have formally 
    agreed to being covered by Part 2. 

It applies to all State records that require equipment or technology to access. This includes, but is not 
limited to: 

  • audio visual files in both analogue and digital formats
  • microforms (e.g. microfilm, microfiche), photographic negatives, slides and transparencies
  • records held in business systems, M365 and SharePoint
  • records stored on collaborative platforms, software/platform-as-a-service and in the cloud. 

This policy does not apply to the management of the State Archives Collection. 

Policy principles

1

Records should be disposed of when no longer required

  • Approved retention and disposal authorities provide minimum retention periods for State records or identify records as required as State archives.
  • Public offices should destroy records that have met minimum retention periods when no longer required for business or legal purposes to reduce unnecessary costs and reduce cybersecurity and privacy risks (Standard on records management, minimum compliance requirement (MCR) 3.7).
  • Public offices should transfer records required as State archives to Museums of History NSW (MHNSW) when no longer required for official use. MHNSW is responsible for maintaining accessibility to transferred records.
2

Public offices must maintain accessibility of records for as long as required

  • Public offices must ensure that records remain identifiable, retrievable and accessible for as long as the records are required to be retained by agencies under approved retention and disposal authorities, and legal and business purposes (Standard on records management, MCR 3.3).
  • Public offices are responsible for determining the most appropriate method to maintain access to State records in their custody. If a public office has records required as State archives, they should contact Museums of History NSW for advice. Public offices can contact State Records NSW for general recordkeeping guidance and advice.
  • All preservation or management activities must maintain the integrity and authenticity of records. State Records NSW – Policy on accessibility of equipment and technology dependent records 4  Migration may be a suitable solution for maintaining access to digital records. All migration activities must follow the requirements of Source records that have been migrated (GA48).
  • Digitisation may be an appropriate solution for maintaining access to physical records. All digitisation activities must adhere to the requirements of Original or source records that have been copied (GA45). Digitised records must then be maintained in a business system for as long as the agency requires access.
  • Public offices are responsible for maintaining equipment and technology required to access records. Public offices should ensure that they also have access to necessary expertise to access the records.
3

The accessibility of State records must be planned and actively managed

  • Public offices should consider the future accessibility of records when evaluating and implementing systems and solutions (Standard on records management, MCRs 2.5, 2.6). Retention and disposal authorities can be used to determine the minimum retention of records that a system will hold.
  • Routine migration activities are often easier and cheaper than migrating from older and more outdated formats.
  • Proprietary systems and formats can present difficulties with long term preservation and accessibility. Developers may no longer support systems and formats or may be unwilling to share information required for preservation. Open and standardised formats and systems are recommended for longer term records.

Roles and Responsibilities

There are 3 key participants involved in maintaining accessibility of State records over time and, within the statutory framework provided by the State Records Act, each has its own roles and responsibilities. 

Public offices

Public offices are responsible for: 

  • maintaining accessibility to equipment- and technology-dependent records
  • disposing of records in a timely and authorised manner
  • providing training in and raising awareness of key obligations under the State Records Act. 

Senior responsible officers for records management in a public office are accountable for ensuring compliance with this policy as part of their responsibility for the oversight of records and information management. 

Chief executives of each public office have a duty to ensure compliance with the State Records Act, including s 14. 

State Records NSW

State Records NSW is responsible for: 

  • issuing retention and disposal authorities for the use of public offices, subject to approval by the Board of the State Records Authority NSW under s 21(3) of the State Records Act
  • providing guidance, advice and standards to support recordkeeping in NSW public offices. 

Museums of History NSW 

MHNSW is responsible for: 

  • managing the transfer of records required as State archives into the State Archives Collection
  • providing guidance and advice on the appropriate preservation of State records required as State archives.

Definitions

For the purposes of this policy, the following definitions apply:

TermDefinition
Archives
Those records that are appraised as having continuing value. See also State archive.
Public office

The State Records Act 1998 applies to public sector bodies referred to as public offices. 

Section 3(1) of the Act identifies that 

public office— 

(a) means each of the following— 

(i) a department, office, commission, board, corporation, agency, service or instrumentality, exercising a function of a branch of the Government of the State, 

(ii) a body, whether or not incorporated, established for a public purpose, 

(iii) a council, county council or joint organisation under the Local Government Act 1993, 

(iv) the Cabinet and the Executive Council, 

(v) the office and official establishment of the Governor, 

(vi) a House of Parliament, 

(vii) a court or tribunal,

(viii) a State collecting institution, 

(ix) a Royal Commission or Commission of Inquiry, 

(x) a State owned corporation, 

(xi) the holder of an office under the Crown, 

(xii) a political office holder, other than the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, within the meaning of the Members of Parliament Staff Act 2013, 

(xiii) a body, office or institution, whether or not it is a public office under another subparagraph of this paragraph, that exercises a public function and is declared by the regulations to be a public office for the purposes of this Act, 

(b) but does not include— 

(i) the Workers Compensation Nominal Insurer established under the Workers Compensation Act 1987, or 

(ii) a justice of the peace within the meaning of the Justices of the Peace Act 2002, or 

(iii) another individual or a private sector entity, except to the extent that section 8 applies.

Record
Record means any document or other source of information compiled, recorded or stored in written form or on film, or by electronic process, or in any other manner or by any other means (State Records Act, s 3(1)). 
 
See also State record.
Retention and disposal authorities

Instruments that identify those records created and received by NSW public offices which are required as State archives and provide approval for the destruction of other records after minimum retention periods have been met. 

Retention and disposal authorities are issued by State Records NSW, after approval by the State Records Authority NSW Board.

State archive
State archive means a State record that MHNSW has control of under this Act. (State Records Act, s 3(1)).
State record

State record means a record made or received by a person, whether before or after the commencement of this section— 

(a) in the course of exercising official functions in a public office, or 

(b) for a purpose of a public office, or 

(c) for the use of a public office. 

(State Records Act, s 3(1)).

Technology- or equipment-dependent recordsA record in such a form that information can only be produced or made available from it by means of the use of particular equipment of information technology (such as computer software). (State Records Act, s 14(1))

Download

Download Policy on accessibility of equipment and technology dependent records PDF 310.37KB File last updated on: 15 July 2025.

If you have any accessibility feedback or concerns related to this resource, please contact us.

Type: Policy
Author: State Records NSW
Publication Date: 14 July 2025

Tagged in

NSW GovernmentState Records NSWRecordkeeping guidanceRecords storage
Print this page
Top of page