A records schedule is a fundamental instrument in the archives of entities subject to obligation of transfer. It contains information on the creation, preservation, and access of all record groups in an archive. A records schedule is a plan that includes a comprehensive overview of each record group, the records that make up it, and on the processing, completion and preservation of the records. The schedule is intended to reflect the archives of the relevant party as they are at any given time and is therefore regularly reviewed.
The entities subject to obligation of transfer shall create and maintain a records schedule and obtain its approval from the National Archives.
Rules on the records schedules No. 571/2015 apply to the content structure, the duration and the approval of the schedule.
Article 3 of Regulation No. 571/2015 on records management plans for entities required to transfer records stipulates that records management plans must be submitted on a special form.
As stipulated in Article 3 of Regulation on records management schedule, the schedules must be approved by a public archive at the beginning of each records management period. When an entity is ready to request approval of its records schedule, the request must come from its director. The director may send the request by email with the records schedules and its attachments included, or, if the entity records manager sends the documents by email, a signed letter from the director may be provided with the request for approval.
When a records management period ends and the validity of the records schedule expires, approval must be obtained for the schedule for the next records management period. Reference is made to the section on approval above regarding how this can be done. The only difference is that only the attachments that have been added during the records management period need to be included. This may include new disposal authorizations, new notifications regarding electronic data collections, new classification schemes, and other relevant updates.
The advantages of having an effective and good records schedule include the following:
Records that are necessary to preserve are preserved in an orderly and secure manner.
Paper records that are in daily use are available in the office but are then moved to storage when the usage decreases.
This leads to the regular disposal of records that have been authorized to dispose of. This prevents the parties that are obliged to transfer from unnecessary preservation of the records. This saves space for storage, among other things.
A good overview of access-controlled records for personal data or otherwise.
Provides an overview of electronic data sets that are in use by the entity. This applies to all data sets whether they contain records or databases.
Shows when the entity subject to obligation of transfer started to scan paper records and, therefore, when records change from being on paper to being preserved electronically.
Shows when an archive version of electronic data sets must be created.
Facilitate access to electronic records in the future.
