Destruction of the non-archival documentation
What should you do when your company’s documentation just keeps growing? Are you forced to buy new cabinets and furnish new rooms? No, there’s a concept called disposition—or destruction. This is addressed in the 2015 Regulation of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, available at the following link: http://isap.sejm.gov.pl/isap.nsf/download.xsp/WDU20150001743/O/D20151743.pdf
It’s worth noting that at the end of this Regulation, a table specifies the area of supervision for individual non-central archives. For example, the State Archives in Zamość encompasses:
− the city with county rights of Zamość
− the counties of Biłgoraj, Hrubieszów, Tomaszów, and Zamość
− the municipalities of Gorzków, Izbica, Rudnik, and Żółkiewka in Krasnystaw County
− the municipalities of Wysokie and Zakrzew in Lublin County
Getting back to disposal. It’s not that simple. In the sense that you can’t simply throw documents into the shredder when you decide you no longer need them.
Once you’ve reviewed the non-archival documentation in your company archive, you must send a letter to the appropriate State Archives along with a list of this documentation.
For your convenience, I’ve included the “application for consent to dispose of non-archival documentation” file from the APZ website below:
…………………………………………….
(full name of the body or organizational unit requesting consent to the disposal of non-archival documentation)
Case number: date of letter:
Pursuant to § 9 section 1 of the Regulation of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of 20 October 2015 on the classification and qualification of documentation, the transfer of archival materials to state archives and the disposal of non-archival documentation (Journal of Laws of 2015, item 1743), I hereby apply to (provide the name of the organizational unit) for consent to the disposal of non-archival documentation.
Pursuant to § 9 section 2 of the aforementioned Regulation, I hereby inform you that:
1. The missing non-archive documentation was created by (provide the name of the body or organizational unit whose documentation is missing);
2. The documentation selected for deletion was qualified based on: (provide the basis for qualifying the non-archive documentation and when and by whom it was entered);
3. The documentation was created in the period (please provide the most recent annual dates);
4. The following documentation is subject to deletion: (file, technical, photographic, audiovisual, geodetic and cartographic, other (specify type));
5. The size of the missing documentation is: …… linear meters; ….. j.a.;…. j.inv.
6. I also declare that the retention period for the missing non-archival documentation has expired and that it has lost its significance, including evidentiary value, for (specify the name of the body or organizational unit that created or collected it, and in the absence thereof, for the body or organizational unit that has assumed its duties or competences).
A list of non-archival documentation, comprising …….. pages and …….. items, is attached.
………………………………………………….
(signature of the head of the organizational unit)
Then you wait for feedback from the State Archives to determine whether there are any objections to the list you have prepared. Sometimes, you might include documentation on the list that the State Archives considers category A, and you’ll need to remove it from the non-archival documentation, create and label a new folder, and change the category from B to A.
But if everything is OK, you’ll receive a letter from the State Archives – permission to dispose of non-archival documentation.
You’ll prepare a protocol for the disposal of non-archival documentation (usually the chairperson, meaning you and two members of the Committee – these can be colleagues from your company). You can then shred it. Of course, you can also take it to a professional company that handles such things, which incurs financial costs. I’ll just mention that there are different types of shredders with different destruction classes.
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