§3106 — Title 44 Public Printing and Documents | U.S. Code

Summary

Agency heads must tell the Archivist if records their agency keeps are being or may be unlawfully taken, damaged, changed, corrupted, deleted, or destroyed. They must help the Archivist ask the Attorney General to get back any records they know or reasonably believe were unlawfully taken, including records the agency received from another agency. If an agency head fails to act in a reasonable time after notice, or is involved in the wrongdoing, the Archivist must ask the Attorney General to start recovery and must notify Congress that the request was made.

Title 44, §3106

Public Printing and Documents — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The head of each Federal agency shall notify the Archivist of any actual, impending, or threatened unlawful removal, defacing, alteration, corruption, deletion, erasure, or other destruction of records in the custody of the agency, and with the assistance of the Archivist shall initiate action through the Attorney General for the recovery of records the head of the Federal agency knows or has reason to believe have been unlawfully removed from that agency, or from another Federal agency whose records have been transferred to the legal custody of that Federal agency.

(b)In any case in which the head of a Federal agency does not initiate an action for such recovery or other redress within a reasonable period of time after being notified of any such unlawful action described in subsection (a), or is participating in, or believed to be participating in any such unlawful action, the Archivist shall request the Attorney General to initiate such an action, and shall notify the Congress when such a request has been made.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Based on 44 U.S. Code, 1964 ed., § 396(f) (June 30, 1949, ch. 288, title V, § 506(f), as added Sept. 5, 1950, ch. 849, § 6(d), 64 Stat. 583).

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2014—Pub. L. 113–187 amended section generally. Prior to amendment, text read as follows: “The head of each Federal agency shall notify the Archivist of any actual, impending, or threatened unlawful removal, defacing, alteration, or destruction of records in the custody of the agency of which he is the head that shall come to his attention, and with the assistance of the Archivist shall initiate action through the Attorney General for the recovery of records he knows or has reason to believe have been unlawfully removed from his agency, or from another Federal agency whose records have been transferred to his legal custody. In any case in which the head of the agency does not initiate an action for such recovery or other redress within a reasonable period of time after being notified of any such unlawful action, the Archivist shall request the Attorney General to initiate such an action, and shall notify the Congress when such a request has been made.” 1984—Pub. L. 98–497, § 107(b)(21), substituted “Archivist” for “Administrator of General Services” and “Archivist” for “Administrator”. Pub. L. 98–497, § 203(b), inserted at end “In any case in which the head of the agency does not initiate an action for such recovery or other redress within a reasonable period of time after being notified of any such unlawful action, the Archivist shall request the Attorney General to initiate such an action, and shall notify the Congress when such a request has been made.”

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1984 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 98–497 effective Apr. 1, 1985, see section 301 of Pub. L. 98–497, set out as a note under section 2102 of this title.

§3106 Unlawful removal, destruction of records