PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

Summary

Photo, microfilm, digital, or other reproductions that meet standards set by the Archivist count as keeping records indefinitely when the law requires the originals. Those copies, including ones made under rules for chapters 21, 29, 31, 33, are legally the same as the originals. Copies sealed with the official seal and certified by the Archivist can be used as evidence like the original. The Archivist may charge fees to recover costs; fees go into the National Archives Trust Fund. The Archivist may not charge the U.S. Government for official-use copies unless appropriated funds are insufficient.

Title 44, §2116

Public Printing and Documents, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)When records that are required by statute to be retained indefinitely have been reproduced by photographic, microphotographic, digital, or other processes, in accordance with standards established by the Archivist the indefinite retention by the photographic, microphotographic, digital, or other reproductions constitutes compliance with the statutory requirement for the indefinite retention of the original records. The reproductions, as well as reproductions made under regulations to carry out chapter 21, 29, 31, and 33 of this title, shall have the same legal status as the originals.

(b)There shall be an official seal for the National Archives of the United States which shall be judicially noticed. When a copy or reproduction, furnished under this section, is authenticated by the official seal and certified by the Archivist, the copy or reproduction shall be admitted in evidence equally with the original from which it was made.

(c)The Archivist may charge a fee set to recover the costs for making or authenticating copies or reproductions of materials transferred to the Archivist’s custody. Such fee shall be fixed by the Archivist at a level which will recover, so far as practicable, all elements of such costs, and may, in the Archivist’s discretion, include increments for the estimated replacement cost of equipment. Such fees shall be paid into, administered, and expended as a part of the National Archives Trust Fund. The Archivist may not charge for making or authenticating copies or reproductions of materials for official use by the United States Government unless appropriations available to the Archivist for this purpose are insufficient to cover the cost of performing the work.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Based on 44 U.S. Code, 1964 ed., § 399 (June 30, 1949, ch. 288, title V, § 509, as added Sept. 5, 1950, ch. 849, § 6(d), 64 Stat. 583).

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2014—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 113–187, § 3(d), inserted “digital,” after “microphotographic,” in two places. Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 113–187, § 8(1), substituted “the Archivist’s custody” for “his custody”. 1984—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 98–497, § 107(a)(9)(A), substituted “Archivist” for “Administrator of General Services”. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 98–497, § 107(a)(9)(B), substituted “Archivist” for “Administrator”. Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 98–497, § 201, substituted provisions transferring functions from Administrator of General Services to Archivist of the United States, further substituted provisions relating to permissible fee charges for former provisions which set a fee not in excess of 10 percent above costs and expenses for making copies, inserted “unless appropriations available to the Archivist for this purpose are insufficient to cover the cost of performing the work”, and struck out provision that reimbursement may be accepted to cover cost of furnishing copies or reproductions that could not otherwise be furnished. 1976—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 94–575 inserted reference to chapter 33 of this title.

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.

§2116 Legal Status of Reproductions; Official Seal; Fees for Copies and Reproductions