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Disposal process

Disposal is the implementation process for deciding if, when and how you can transfer or destroy your organisation’s information and records with authorisation from the Chief Archivist.

Under the Public Records Act 2005 (the Act), there are 5 ways you can dispose of information and records:

• destruction

• transfer (to us or another public office)

• alteration

• sale

• discharge.

This guidance is for anyone responsible for managing information and records for:

• public offices

• local authorities.

Please note the disposal process is different for public offices and for local authorities.

Under the Act, the Chief Archivist has identified certain classes or groups of local authority information and records as ‘protected records’. You must not dispose of protected records without prior approval from the Chief Archivist.

View the list of protected records for local authorities

You’ll find guidance on the disposal of both protected records and other local authority information and records in the ALGIM Information Management Toolkit. This has been developed by the Association of Local Government Management Information Management and endorsed by the Chief Archivist.

Please note that although local authorities may use our general disposal authorities (GDA6 and GDA7) for best practice information and records management, these do not override the disposal process for protected records.

To see if this process applies to your organisation, check the list of Public offices subject to the Public Records Act.

You need authorisation to dispose of public records

You must get authorisation from the Chief Archivist to dispose of your organisation’s information and records.

This authorisation is called a disposal authority. Disposal authorities group your information and records into classes related to your organisation’s business functions and activities. They detail how long you need to retain the information and records — and how you can dispose of them.

Once your organisation has this authorisation, it is our expectation that you will be implementing the consequent disposal action after the minimum retention period and any ongoing business need has passed.

There are 3 types of disposal authority:

• General disposal authorities

  — for information and records common to most public offices.

• Sector disposal authorities

  — for information and records common to certain sectors.

• Disposal authorities for specific public offices

  — for information and records specific to one organisation.

Find out more about disposal authorisation

General disposal authorities

General disposal authorities (GDAs) are ongoing authorisations that apply to all public offices.

They cover classes of information and records that are:

• common to most public offices

• facilitative or transitory.

For each class, the GDAs detail:

• common examples

• a minimum retention period (how long you need to keep the information and records for)

• a disposal action (whether you can transfer or destroy these information and records).

Learn more about general disposal authorities

Disposal process using general disposal authorities

You can use the GDAs to dispose of eligible information and records at any time.

To do this, you must first assess your information and records to decide if they match the classes in the GDA. If you’re in doubt, contact us at rkadvice@dia.govt.nz.

You can then implement the disposal action for the information and records as instructed in the GDA. You don’t need any further authorisation from us.

The most common disposal actions are destruction and transfer.

Learn more about disposal transfer

Learn more about methods of destruction

Download the general disposal authorities

Use GDA6 for common corporate service public records

• General Disposal Authority 6 (CSV 65KB)

• General Disposal Authority 6 (PDF 969KB)

Use GDA7 for facilitative, transitory, and short-term value records

• General Disposal Authority 7 (CSV 10.45 KB)

• General Disposal Authority 7 (PDF 683KB)

Sector disposal authorities

Some sectors have their own disposal authorities. This includes:

• district health boards

• institutes of technology and polytechnics

• universities

• schools

• the intelligence sector.

Disposal authorities for your specific public office

You need a disposal authority specific to your public office to dispose of information and records not covered by a GDA or sector disposal authority.

These authorities are for information and records created or received as part of your organisation’s core business.

Make sure you’ve got management support, so you know you have the ongoing resourcing you’ll need to create a specific disposal authority. Although we can provide the guidance and templates to do this, creating a specific disposal authority can be a lengthy process involving staff from all parts of your organisation.

Disposal process authorisation flow chart

Download the disposal authorisation process flow chart (PDF 384KB)

Step 1. Contact us

Contact us at rkadvice@dia.govt.nz before you start.

Step 2. Appraise and document how you intend to dispose of your information and records

To get authorisation to dispose of information and records specific to your public office, you first need to know what these are. The process of identifying and assessing your organisation’s core business functions — and their supporting information and records — is called appraisal.

Read more about the appraisal process

You’ll need to document this process and the decisions you make about if, when and how you plan to dispose of your information and records. You also need to document consultation with any internal, external and Māori stakeholders. To do this you’ll need to develop 2 documents so the Chief Archivist can decide whether to authorise your disposal recommendations.

These are the:

• appraisal report (see Step 5 of the Appraisal process)

• disposal schedule.

The disposal schedule should detail:

• the classes your information and records will cover

• how long you need to retain and continue to manage the information and records — and what will trigger the start of this minimum retention period

• how you intend to dispose of each class of information and records (for example, by destruction or transfer to us).

We'll give you templates for these documents and guidance in completing them.

Step 3. Submit your appraisal report and disposal schedule for review

This is a collaborative process. We’ll undertake a preliminary review of your documents, suggesting any changes needed to ensure decisions are consistent, logical and justified, or your stakeholder consultation is appropriate.

Step 4. Public comment — intentions to dispose

Once you’ve made any changes from our review, we are legally required to notify the public of your organisation’s intention to dispose of public information and records. We’ll post your appraisal report and disposal schedule on our website for comment from members of the public. After 30 days, we will analyse any feedback. Based on this analysis, we may recommend changes to your appraisal report and the disposal schedule.

Find out more about intentions to dispose

Step 5. Submit your appraisal report and disposal schedule to the Chief Archivist

When the public comment period is over — and any changes have been agreed and made to your appraisal report and disposal schedule — we’ll submit these to the Chief Archivist on your behalf. The Chief Archivist will consider your recommendations in line with the context and justification of your decision-making.

The Chief Archivist may require further changes, analysis or stakeholder consultation before approving your appraisal report and disposal schedule. Once approved, the final appraisal report and disposal schedule become your organisation's disposal authority and are published online.

Step 6. Applying your disposal authority — sentencing

You can now implement disposal of eligible information and records in line with your disposal schedule. This is called sentencing.

Read our sentencing guidance