Responsibilities of Certifying Officers
Certifying Officers are responsible for overseeing applications for the Disposal of Departmental Records in accordance with the National Archives Act, 1986 7(4), Regulations, 1988 6 for records that do not warrant permanent preservation by the National Archives.
Please see our Certifying Officer Duties page for more details.
Disposing of any records without a Certificate for the Disposal of Departmental Records signed by the Director of the National Archives is a breach of the National Archives Act, 1986.
This applies to the destruction of paper and digital records, including files that were originally paper records but scanned for access or to reduce storage space and costs.
A scanned copy of an original paper file does not constitute an original document and may have no legal standing.
Duplicate records
Permission is not required to destroy duplicate records or printed material. Duplicate records are classed as those that do not contain any annotations or information that differs from the final document.
Any annotations or drafting notes listed on a document render it an original and cannot be destroyed without obtaining a Certificate for the Disposal of Departmental Records.
Disposal process
The disposal process for compliance with the National Archives Act is as follows:
- Identify a series of records not worthy of permanent preservation (ideally, this should be done as part of a records management process, including the series’s details in a retention schedule).
- Complete an Appraisal Request Form.
- A survey of the records will be arranged by the National Archives staff, where necessary. Departments of State are required under the National Archives Act, 1986, 7(7) to facilitate this assessment.
- An appraisal report with a recommendation for retention or disposal will be made to the Director of the National Archives.
- The Director will make the final decision on the issuing of a disposal certificate.
- If disposal is granted, a draft disposal certificate with attached conditions will be sent to you and should be printed on departmental headed paper and signed by your Certifying Officer.
- The signed disposal certificate should be posted to the Director for her/his final signature.
- A copy of the completed certificate will be retained in the National Archives and the original will be given to the requesting department, court office or public body and should be retained permanently.
- Once the completed certificate is obtained, you may destroy records in accordance with the terms of the National Archives Act, 1986.
- The National Archives Act, 1986 7(5) requires Departments of State to arrange for the confidential disposal of such records.