In accordance with the provisions of the State Records Act (section 13), State Records NSW may approve standards and codes of best practice for records management for use by public offices.
Standards issued by State Records NSW
Recordkeeping standards are mandatory, measurable and include minimum compliance requirements. They are outcomes-oriented, rather than prescriptive.
Standards issued by State Records NSW under the State Records Act 1998 include:
- Standard on records management (Standard No. 12, issued March 2015, amended October 2018)
- Standard on the physical storage of State records (Standard No. 13, issued February 2019)
State Records NSW is required under section 13 of the State Records Act to consult with public offices on any proposed standard or code of best practice. Public offices may be contacted periodically for feedback on existing or proposed standards and codes of best practice.
Please note with the issue of the Standard on records management on 2 March 2015, the following standards were revoked and are no longer in use:
- Standard on full and accurate records
- Standard on managing a records management program
- Standard on digital recordkeeping
- Standard on counter disaster strategies for records and recordkeeping systems
- Standard on appraisal and disposal of State records.
Please note with the issue of Standard No. 13 Standard on the physical storage of State records on 15 February 2019, the following standard was revoked and is no longer in use.
- Standard on the physical storage of State records (No. 11)
Superseded standards can be consulted on www.opengov.nsw.gov.au
Back to topCodes of best practice
Codes of best practice are industry standards which codify and describe best practice, and are a benchmark for measuring processes, practices and systems.
Codes of best practice underpin and support mandatory requirements in the Standard on records management and the Standard on physical storage of State records issued by State Records NSW. The code of best practice provides further information about processes, practices or systems and will assist a public office in understanding and implementing requirements contained in the standards. Codes of best practice are not designed for a formal auditing framework. Nonetheless, failure to comply with a code of best practice would leave a public office open to criticism in an investigation where recordkeeping practices were an issue.
Codes of best practice issued by State Records NSW under the State Records Act include:
Back to topImplementing the Standard on records management and the new code of best practice
State Records NSW has updated the Implementation Guide for the Standard on records management to include references to the new code of best practice. The Guide has three sections:
- understanding the requirements of the Standard on records management
- meeting obligations under the State Records Act 1998
- understanding the relationship between the Standard on records management and the Code of best practice AS ISO 15489.1: 2017.
Implementing the Standard on the physical storage of State records
State Records NSW has revised Solutions for storage (guidance on the storage of physical records). We also have a detailed Implementation Guide for the Standard on the physical storage of State records.
Published February 2015/revised June 2017/revised June 2018/revised November 2018 / revised February 2019 / updated January 2024
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