Archives New Zealand has issued a Disposal Authority for public records that have been affected by the Canterbury Earthquakes. On 4th September 2010, 22nd February 2011 and 13th June 2011 New Zealand experienced significant earthquake events that caused extensive damage across the Canterbury region. These earthquake events were surrounded by numerous aftershocks that caused additional damage.
The Canterbury Earthquakes Disposal Authority is intended to assist public offices who have records located in the Canterbury region in applying for authorisation for the final destruction, or archiving, of records under s20 of the Public Records Act 2005.
Disposal Authorities are issued under s20 of the Public Records Act 2005 and allow the Chief Archivist to approve the destruction, or transfer to Archives New Zealand, of public records.
What is it?
What does it do?
What doesn’t it do?
How will it work?
Who can use it?
Where do I go to get more information?
This new Disposal Authority is a legal tool allowing public offices in the Canterbury region to either destroy, or transfer to Archives New Zealand, records that have been damaged by the Canterbury Earthquakes; and to legalise the destruction of records that have already been lost.
The recordkeeping implications of the earthquakes were significant. Paper and other hardcopy forms were damaged by water and silt and burial in debris. Some electronic records were completely lost as a result of electric power failure or damage to stand-alone computers.
This Disposal Authority helps public offices to document the destruction and damage that has occurred to their records. This will help enable agencies to account for their records for business purposes and to answer any queries they receive about the records with confidence; as they will have clear documentation of what records or types of records were lost and damaged in the earthquakes.
It allows the Chief Archivist to legalise and document any destruction; and provides Archives New Zealand, and the country, with a record of what happened to government records as a result of the earthquakes. This Disposal Authority also allows the Chief Archivist to prioritise Archives New Zealand’s interventions and help salvage records which are of high value to New Zealand as a whole.
This Disposal Authority does not require public offices to create a list of each individual record destroyed by the earthquakes. This is because it is not always feasible to recover these lists from the buildings they were in and the public offices might not have had itemised lists of every record in the building, or because common, high-volume record types can be adequately described with a general description of their content.
This Disposal Authority does not cover records located outside the Canterbury region or records that were damaged or destroyed prior to the earthquakes. This Disposal Authority cannot be used as a defence or excuse for destroying or otherwise disposing of records for a fraudulent or illegal purpose.
Public offices will need to apply to Archives New Zealand to be able to use and implement the Canterbury Earthquakes Disposal Authority. Public offices will send Archives New Zealand evidence of the damage to their records or building in which the records are stored along with a brief listing of the records affected, or a description of record types together with approximate quantities where no lists are available.
The Archives New Zealand Appraisal team will review this documentation and work with the public office to ensure that appropriate evidence has been provided for the Chief Archivist’s decision. If the Chief Archivist agrees with the documentation the application will be approved.
Archives New Zealand is aware of 53 public offices that have records located in the Canterbury region. Roughly 80 per cent of public offices located in Canterbury have not suffered loss or damage to their records. The remaining 20 per cent of public offices may need to use some classes of this Disposal Authority to authorise the destruction or transfer of some of their records.
It is expected the number of public offices that may need to use this Disposal Authority will become clearer as more public offices gain access to the places where records are held.
Local Authorities (Regional, District and City Councils) are not able to use this Disposal Authority as their records are covered by a separate process under section 40(3) of the Public Records Act 2005. However, this Disposal Authority will be used to inform the process for any destructions or transfers under s40(3) for Canterbury Local Authorities that have been affected by the earthquakes.
This Disposal Authority has been approved by the Chief Archivist and is available to view on our online Disposal Authority register in Archway under DA466.
If you would like more information about this Disposal Authority please contact Lisa Austin, Appraisal Advisor, at lisa.austin@dia.govt.nz.