Proposed Regulation for Digitizing US Government Records
The US National Archives and Records Administration’s new proposal for standardization of digitization of permanent federal records is available for comment.
An agency of the US federal government, NARA (National Archives and Records Administration) is proposing an amendment to their records management regulations to standardize digitization of permanent federal records. The proposed amendment is available for review and comment. following the instructions provided in the Federal eRulemaking Portal.
The proposed changes will amend 36 CFR part 1224, Records Disposition Programs, and 36 CFR part 1225, Scheduling Records which will change the established time frame for reviewing records. Additionally, 36 CFR part 1236, Electronic Records Management will be revised to add standards for digitizing permanent paper and photographic records so that the original records could be discarded. This change will allow agencies to continue to use digital documents just as they would use the original hard copy document.
The PDF Association will provide comments on this proposed amendment on behalf of the industry as a whole, but we encourage members to submit comments themselves. It is important to note that PDF/A-1 and PDF/A-2 are included in the proposal as two file formats among a number that are recommended for the digitized records. Further, it is important to note that PDF/R is not among the recommended file formats and that TIFF 6.0 is.
The public comment period ends February 1, 2021.