Do records retention schedules only apply to paper records?
No. A records retention schedule may be applicable to either paper or electronic records. If a record is maintained in both paper and electronic form, the creating office, in consultation with ARMS, should decide which one will serve as the official copy of the record and thus be subject to records retention requirements. The other, non-official copy simply may be destroyed whenever it loses its reference value. Note, however, that a record in electronic form may not serve as the official copy if it is not maintained in a viable recordkeeping system, as determined by ARMS.
