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Recordkeeping requirements and the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009
Relationship between the State Records Act and GIPA Act
Government organisations rely on the records made and kept under the State Records Act 1998 to fulfil their obligations to facilitate access to Government information under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act).
Organisational responsibilities
The Information and Privacy Commission have outlined four organisational responsibilities to keep records under the GIPA Act.
- Keep up-to-date records to ensure information can be provided where appropriate.
- Manage records systematically so they can be located easily.
- Keep records for as long as they are required under approved Retention and Disposal authorities in accordance with the State Records Act.
- Ensure that your agency is able to access the records held by a contracted service provider.
Taken from the Information and Privacy Commission's Quick guide to my responsibilities under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act) NSW, January 2020
These responsibilities closely align with recordkeeping requirements under the State Records Act and the Standard on Records Management. The standard aims to ensure that government information is appropriately documented and discoverable.
Implementing the standard can save your organisation time and resources otherwise spent on searching for information that may or may not be documented.
Tips to fulfil GIPA recordkeeping responsibilities
The table below provides tips and links to useful resources to help fulfil recordkeeping responsibilities.
| GIPA responsibility | Tips | Guidance/resources available |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Keep up-to-date records to ensure information can be provided where appropriate. | Understand your recordkeeping requirements Assess what records your organisation needs to create and what information the records should include (particularly in relation to high risk activities) Identify common situations where records should be created and captured e.g. phone conservations, meetings, emails, web chats | Identifying and managing high value and high risk records and information |
| 2. Manage records systematically so they can be located easily. | Keep a record of systems and locations used to store organisational records Use titling, file structure and classification conventions to capture records into approved systems Ensure business systems are designed to meet organisational recordkeeping requirements Undertake timely disposal of records legible for lawful destruction to reduce the amount of documentation your organisation needs to assess Implement normal administrative practice (NAP) to dispose of ephemeral, facilitative and duplicate records and streamline your records holdings. NAP is defined under Schedule 2 of the State Records Regulation 2024 and enables the destruction of certain types of facilitative and duplicate records. | |
| 3. Keep records for as long as they are required under approved Retention and Disposal authorities in accordance with the NSW State Records Act 1998. | Ensure that records are managed in approved systems Keep a record of systems and locations used to store organisational records Use sustainable file formats when creating records Migrate/convert technology dependent records to retain their accessibility Use approved Retention and Disposal authorities issued to your organisation to dispose of time expired records lawfully | |
| 4. Ensure that your agency is able to access the records held by a contracted service provider. | Ensure that contracts outline responsibilities for recordkeeping and clarify ownership of the records | Accountable outsourcing |
Further information
For further recordkeeping advice and an outline of your recordkeeping responsibilities under the State Records Act refer to the Standard on records management.
If you have enquiries about recordkeeping, please contact State Records NSW at govrec@staterecords.nsw.gov.au.
If you have enquiries about the GIPA Act, please contact the Information and Privacy Commission on 1800 472 679 or at ipcinfo@ipc.nsw.gov.au.