What procedures must an agency follow to transfer records to an agency records center or commercial records storage facility?
36 C.F.R. § 1232.18
in effectEffective: 2024-07-01Federal agencies must use the following procedures to transfer records to an agency records center or commercial records storage facility:
(a) Agreements with agency records centers or contracts with commercial records storage facilities must incorporate the standards in 36 CFR part 1234 and allow for inspections by the agency and NARA to ensure compliance. An agency must remove records promptly from a facility if deficiencies identified during an inspection are not corrected within six months of issuance of the report.
(b) For temporary records, the agency must make available to NARA on request the documentation specified in § 1232.16.
(c) Retain temporary records until the expiration of their NARA-approved retention period and no longer, except as provided for in § 1226.18 of this subchapter.
(d) Ensure that NARA-approved retention periods are implemented properly and that records documenting final disposition actions (destruction or transfer to the National Archives of the United States) are created and maintained as required by 36 CFR 1232.14.
(1) Agencies must establish procedures that ensure that temporary records are destroyed in accordance with NARA-approved records schedules and that NARA-approved changes to schedules, including the General Records Schedules, are applied to records in agency records centers or commercial records storage facilities in a timely fashion. Procedures must include a requirement that the agency records center or commercial records storage facility notify agency records managers or the creating office before the disposal of temporary records unless disposal of temporary records is initiated by the agency.
(2) Move temporary records that are subsequently reappraised as permanent to a facility that meets the environmental control requirements for permanent records in § 1234.14 of this subchapter within one year of their re-appraisal, if not already in such a facility. (Paper-based permanent records in an existing records storage facility that does not meet the environmental control requirements in § 1234.14 of this subchapter on October 1, 2009, must be moved from that facility no later than February 28, 2010.)
(3) Agencies must establish procedures to ensure that the agency records centers or commercial records storage facilities transfer permanent records to the National Archives of the United States as individual series spanning one or more years and in accordance with the provisions of part 1235 of this subchapter.
(e) Agencies must ensure that records that are restricted because they are security classified or exempt from disclosure by statute, including the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a, as amended), or regulation are stored and maintained in accordance with applicable laws, Executive orders, or regulations.
(f) Agencies must ensure that temporary records, including restricted records (security classified or exempted from disclosure by statute, including the Privacy Act of 1974, or regulation), are destroyed in accordance with the requirements specified in § 1226.24 of this subchapter.
(g) Agencies must ensure that emergency operating vital records, as defined in 36 CFR part 1223, that are transferred to an agency records center or commercial records storage facility are available in accordance with 36 CFR 1223.24.
(h) Provide access to appropriate NARA staff to records wherever they are located in order to conduct an inspection in accordance with 36 CFR part 1239 or to process a request for records disposition authority.
Source: eCFRURL: https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2024-07-01/title-36.xmlFetched: 7/26/2026