General Records Authority 31 introduction

Destruction of source or original records after digitisation, conversion or migration

General Records Authority 31: Destruction of source or original records after digitisation, conversion or migration (GRA 31)

This authority permits the destruction of source or original records in certain categories after they have been digitised, converted or migrated – subject to Exclusions and Conditions.

This version issued 26 October 2015. It revises and replaces the version issued November 2012.

Summary of changes

The revised version of GRA 31 issued 26 October 2015 has several changes from the 2012 version:

Retain as national archives (RNA) and retain permanently (RP) source records created from 1980 are now covered (previously covered from 1995)
Audio-visual records are now covered in the authority
Fewer overall exclusions and conditions to the use of the authority
Born digital source records cannot be destroyed after they have been reproduced in paper or any other physical format, as this would not provide functional equivalence to the digital source record
More advice on identifying intrinsic value.

When applying GRA 31 to allow the destruction of source or original records following digitisation, it must be used in conjunction with the following digitisation specifications issued by the National Archives:

Digitisation specifications for paper records in agencies
Preservation Digitisation Standards – for digitisation of 'retain as national archives' (RNA) records, including specifications for audio visual formats.

Superseded versions of GRA 31

The 2012 version of GRA 31 and associated guidelines were superseded on 26 October 2015.

The 2011 version of GRA 31 and associated guidelines were superseded on 1 November 2012.

The 2003 version of GRA 31 was superseded on 1 November 2011.

Superseded - General Disposal Authority for source records that have been copied, converted or migrated (February 2003) (pdf, 504kB).