[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 203 (Tuesday, October 21, 1997)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 54582-54585]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-27822]


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NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION

36 CFR Parts 1228 and 1234

RIN 3095-AA70


Transfer of Electronic Records to the National Archives

AGENCY: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: This rule revises NARA regulations relating to the transfer of 
permanent electronic records to the National Archives of the United 
States. The rule clarifies the timing of transfers and expands the 
forms of acceptable transfer media. The rule affects Federal agencies.

DATES: Effective November 20, 1997. The incorporation by reference of 
certain publications listed in the rule is approved by the Director of 
the Federal Register as of November 20, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas E. Brown at 301-713-6630.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NARA published a notice of proposed 
rulemaking on July 29, 1996 (61 FR 39373) for a 60-day comment period. 
Comments were received from four agencies.
    One agency expressed concern that the regulation does not change 
the requirement that records be transferred in either ASCII (American 
National Standard Code for Information Interchange) or EBCDIC (Extended 
binary-coded decimal interchange code). While the regulation expands 
the media which NARA will accept, we are unwilling at this time to 
expand the coding formats for transfer beyond ASCII or EBCDIC. However 
NARA continues to explore additional formats which will meet our long-
term preservation and access needs. To ensure the ability to access the 
records over time, the archival format is ASCII or EBCDIC. Conversion 
to these formats is easier while the records are in their creating 
systems rather than outside of the creating systems after transfer. 
Therefore, we have not modified the

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requirement for data to be in ASCII or EBCDIC format when being 
transferred to NARA.
    One comment stated that NARA should accept relational database 
files with embedded control characters associated with a particular 
database management system. Such a format would be proprietary and 
dependent on a particular software product. Following the transfer to 
NARA, it would be problematic as to whether the records would be 
accessible. Rather the new regulation calls for the export of tables 
from a relational data base as software independent files. The transfer 
format is, in fact, the logical format used in a relational database. 
Hence the regulation outlines the procedure through which NARA will 
accept records from relational databases but free of the proprietary 
control characters which would limit access.
    One comment recommended that NARA should investigate adding to the 
list of acceptable media CD-ROMs that meet ISO standard 13346. As a 
result of this comment, NARA technical staff has begun investigating 
this standard to determine whether NARA can process records from a CD-
ROM recorded in this format. If this investigation proves successful, 
NARA will further amend the CFR.
    One agency stated that NARA must not permit public access to non-
permanent software on a CD-ROM unless (1) NARA has appropriate 
permission to use and the public has permission to reproduce the 
software and (2) the software is necessary to access permanent records. 
We agree that the public should not be allowed to reproduce copyrighted 
software without permission. NARA will establish internal controls for 
managing the research complex to prevent unauthorized reproduction of 
CD-ROMs which contain copyrighted software. However, section 109 of the 
Copyright Act of 1976 outlined the ``first sale doctrine.'' This 
provision allows NARA's researchers to use copyrighted software in the 
NARA research complex for access to records on a CD-ROM.
    One comment stated that NARA should not provide access to temporary 
files. This comment led us to reconsider the proposed use of CD-ROMs in 
NARA's research complex, and we concluded that we will not provide 
access to temporary records. If an agency transfers both permanent and 
temporary records on a CD-ROM, NARA will copy only the permanent 
records and return the CD-ROM to the agency or destroy it. In this 
final rule, we have amended 36 CFR 1228.188(c)(2)(ii) to reflect this 
policy.
    One comment objected that NARA permits but does not require 
agencies to submit textual documents including formatting codes, 
because such codes may carry essential structural information. NARA 
agrees with this comment. Section 1228.188(d)(2) of the regulation adds 
an option for transferring electronic documents that contain formatting 
codes. At this time, only SGML formats can be preserved permanently. 
NARA will explore other possibilities to preserve structure and format 
of electronic documents. We have not changed the regulation in response 
to this comment.
    One comment stated that the regulations encourage the use of CD-
ROMs for the storage of electronic records. It went on to conclude that 
the proposed regulation may cause technical personnel to argue that CD-
ROM is an appropriate storage media. 36 CFR 1228.188 concerns the use 
of CD-ROMs for the transfer of records to the NARA. It does not address 
the use of any media for the storage of records. The selection of 
storage media for electronic records is addressed in 36 CFR 1234.30. An 
agency may store records on any media but must be able to migrate 
permanent records to media acceptable for transfer to the National 
Archives. To clarify the scope of the regulation, we have modified 
Sec. 1228.188(c) to state: ``This section covers the transfer of 
permanent records to the National Archives; it does not apply to the 
use and storage of records in agency custody. See 36 CFR 1234.30 for 
the requirements governing the selection of electronic records storage 
media.'' We are also clarifying 36 CFR 1234.30 to reinforce this 
distinction between storage and transfer media.
    One comment noted that a distinction exists between storing records 
and disseminating information. Specifically, the comment stated that 
WORM (Write Once--Read Many Times) technology should be used to store 
records, and CD-ROM technology should be used to disseminate 
information. NARA agrees that there is a difference between the storage 
of records and the dissemination of records. Since dissemination of 
information can include the transfer of records to the National 
Archives, the comment endorses our proposed change in the regulations. 
This change in the regulation does not cover the storage of records. 
See 36 CFR 1234.28 for the requirements governing the selection of 
electronic records storage media. This latter regulation does not 
dictate storage media for the records while in agency use; the 
regulation makes clear that it is an agency option. NARA will, however, 
continue to monitor the status of standardization of WORM technology.
    One comment objected that export of tables from a relational 
database to flat files is expensive because it requires application 
programming. Most records schedules for permanent databases require 
periodic transfers, but special programming would only have to be done 
once, if at all. Special programming is not necessary in many cases 
because the files could be exported using any of a variety of off-the-
shelf tools for data extraction. Export costs can also be minimized by 
including migration in the design of those databases that contain 
permanent records.
    One comment thought that NARA should accept imaged documents on 
WORM media. This raises two issues: (1) acceptance of image formats, 
and (2) acceptance of WORM media. Currently, with the exception of the 
CCITT format for digital facsimile (FAX) transmissions, ANSI and ISO 
standards do not exist for any image format or for any WORM disk. 
Consequently the acceptance of image documents on WORM media would 
result in the archival records being stored in a proprietary format 
dependant on a proprietary retrieval system. The result would be either 
the loss of information as a result of technological obsolescence or 
extremely expensive preservation costs to migrate the images and 
storage media to new technologies.
    In Sec. 1228.188(c)(2)(i), we have provided more complete 
identification of the cited industry standard for CD-ROMs that is 
incorporated by reference. In Sec. 1228.188(d)(3), we have provided 
more complete identification of the cited standard for digital spatial 
data files and its ordering source.
    We recognize the concerns that this regulation is narrow in scope 
and does not fully address the needs of Federal agencies for NARA 
guidance in an increasingly electronic environment. Impressive 
developments in technology for creating records have not been matched 
by technological developments for managing them. Because of these 
constraints, NARA has taken a conservative approach in this regulation 
to ensure that the electronic records we accession today are usable 25 
and 50 years from now when current software, hardware, and media are no 
longer available. NARA is working to expand our capabilities to handle 
electronic formats and media that Federal agencies are using today. We 
are developing a successor to NARA's Archival Preservation System (APS) 
for electronic records, and in FY 1999, we will increase APS processing 
capacity to

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50,000 files per year. NARA plans to develop the capability for 
preserving document image files in FY 2000, textual electronic records 
by FY 2001, and raster and vector files by FY 2002. We will seek the 
involvement and assistance of agencies in this effort.
    This rule is a significant regulatory action for the purposes of 
Executive Order 12866, and has been reviewed by OMB. As required by the 
Regulatory Flexibility Act, it is hereby certified that this rule will 
not have a significant impact on small entities. This rule is not a 
major rule as defined in 5 U.S.C. Chapter 8, Congressional Review of 
Agency Rulemaking.

List of Subjects in 36 CFR Parts 1228 and 1234

    Archives and records, Computer technology, Incorporation by 
reference.

    For the reasons set forth in the preamble, Chapter XII of title 36, 
Code of Federal Regulations, is amended as follows:

PART 1228--DISPOSITION OF FEDERAL RECORDS

    1. The authority citation for part 1228 continues to read:

    Authority: 44 U.S.C. chs. 21, 29, and 33.

    2. Section 1228.188 is revised to read as follows:


Sec. 1228.188  Electronic records.

    (a) Timing of transfers. Each agency is responsible for the 
integrity of the records it transfers to the National Archives. To 
ensure that permanently valuable electronic records are preserved, each 
Federal agency shall transfer electronic records to NARA promptly in 
accordance with the agency's records disposition schedule. Furthermore, 
if the agency cannot provide proper care and handling of the media (see 
part 1234 of this chapter), or if the media are becoming obsolete and 
the agency cannot migrate the records to newer media, the agency shall 
contact NARA to arrange for timely transfer of permanently valuable 
electronic records, even when sooner than provided in the records 
schedule.
    (b) Temporary retention of copy. Each agency shall retain a second 
copy of any permanently valuable electronic records that it transfers 
to the National Archives until it receives official notification from 
NARA that the transfer was successful and that NARA has assumed 
responsibility for continuing preservation of the records.
    (c) Transfer media. This paragraph covers the transfer of permanent 
records to the National Archives; it does not apply to the use or 
storage of records in agency custody. See 36 CFR 1234.30 for the 
requirements governing the selection of electronic records storage 
media. The agency shall use only media that is sound and free from 
defects for such transfers; the agency shall choose reasonable steps to 
meet this requirement. The media forms that are approved for transfer 
are open reel magnetic tape, magnetic tape cartridge, and Compact-Disk, 
Read Only Memory (CD-ROM), as described in paragraphs (c) (1) and (2) 
of this section.
    (1) Magnetic tape. Agencies may transfer electronic records to the 
National Archives on magnetic tape using either open-reel magnetic tape 
or tape cartridges. Open-reel magnetic tape shall be on \1/2\ inch 9-
track tape reels recorded at 1600 or 6250 bpi that meet ANSI X3.39-
1986, American National Standard: Recorded Magnetic Tape for 
Information Interchange (1600 CPI, PE) or ANSI X3.54-1986, American 
National Standard: Recorded Magnetic Tape for Information Interchange 
(6250 CPI, Group Coded Recording), respectively. Tape cartridges shall 
be 18-track 3480-class cartridges recorded at 37,871 bpi that meet ANSI 
X3.180-1990, American National Standard: Magnetic Tape and Cartridge 
for Information Interchange--18-Track, Parallel, \1/2\ inch (12.65 mm), 
37871 cpi (1491 cpmm), Group-Coded--Requirements for Recording. The 
data shall be blocked at no more than 32,760 bytes per block. The 
standards cited in this paragraph are available from the American 
National Standards Institute, (ANSI), Inc., 11 West 42nd Street, New 
York, NY 10036. They are also available for inspection at the Office of 
the Federal Register, 800 North Capitol Street, NW., Suite 700, 
Washington, D.C. This incorporation by reference was approved by the 
Director of the Federal Register in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552(a) and 
1 CFR part 51. These materials are incorporated by reference as they 
exist on the date of approval and a notice of any change in these 
materials will be published in the Federal Register.
    (2) Compact-Disk, Read Only Memory (CD-ROM). Agencies may use CD-
ROMs to transfer electronic records scheduled to be preserved in the 
National Archives. The files on such a CD-ROM must comply with the 
format and documentation requirements specified in paragraphs (d) and 
(e) of this section.
    (i) CD-ROMs used for this purpose must conform to ANSI/NISO/ISO 
9660-1990, American National Standard for Volume and File Structure of 
CD-ROM for Information Exchange. The standard is available from the 
National Information Standards Organization (NISO), P.O. Box 1056, 
Bethesda, MD or the American National Standards Institute, 11 West 42nd 
Street, 13th floor, New York NY 10036. It is also available for 
inspection at the Office of the Federal Register, 800 North Capitol 
Street, NW., Suite 700, Washington, D.C. This incorporation by 
reference was approved by the Director of the Federal Register in 
accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552(a) and 1 CFR part 51. These materials are 
incorporated by reference as they exist on the date of approval and a 
notice of any change in these materials will be published in the 
Federal Register.
    (ii) Permanently valuable electronic records must be stored in 
discrete files. The CD-ROMs transferred may contain other files, such 
as software or temporary records, but all permanently valuable records 
must be in files that contain only permanent records. Agencies should 
indicate at the time of transfer if a CD-ROM contains temporary records 
and, if so, where those records are located on the CD-ROM. The agency 
must also specify whether NARA should return the CD-ROM to the agency 
or dispose of it after copying the permanent records to an archival 
medium.
    (iii) In some cases, permanently valuable electronic records that 
an agency disseminates on CD-ROM exist on other media, such as magnetic 
tape. In such cases, the agency and NARA will mutually agree on the 
most appropriate medium for transfer of the records to the National 
Archives.
    (d) Formats. The agency may not transfer to the National Archives 
electronic records that are in a format dependent on specific hardware 
and/or software. The records shall be written in ASCII or EBCDIC with 
all control characters and other non-data characters removed (except as 
specified in paragraphs (d) (1), (2), and (3) of this section). The 
records must not be compressed unless NARA has approved the transfer in 
the compressed form in advance. In such cases, NARA may require the 
agency to provide the software to decompress the records.
    (1) Data files and databases. Data files and databases shall be 
transferred to the National Archives as flat files or as rectangular 
tables; i.e., as two-dimensional arrays, lists, or tables. All 
``records'' (within the context of the computer program, as opposed to 
a Federal record) or ``tuples,'' i.e., ordered collections of data 
items, within a file or table should have the same logical format. Each 
data element within a record should contain only one data value. A 
record should not contain

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nested repeating groups of data items. The file should not contain 
extraneous control characters, except record length indicators for 
variable length records, or marks delimiting a data element, field, 
record, or file. If records or data elements in different files need to 
be linked or combined, then each record must contain one or more data 
elements that constitute primary and/or foreign keys enabling valid 
linkages between the related records in separate files.
    (2) Textual documents. Electronic textual documents shall be 
transferred as plain ASCII files; however, such files may contain 
Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) tags.
    (3) Digital spatial data files. Digital spatial data files shall be 
transferred to NARA in accordance with the Spatial Data Transfer 
Standard (SDTS) as defined in the Federal Information Processing 
Standard 173-1 (June 10, 1994) which is incorporated by reference. 
Digital geospatial data files created on systems procured prior to 
February 1994 which do not have a SDTS capability are exempt from this 
requirement. Agencies should consult with NARA for guidance on 
transferring noncompliant digital geospatial data files created between 
February 1, 1994 and the effective date of this paragraph. The standard 
cited in this paragraph is available from the National Technical 
Information Service, Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161. 
When ordering, cite FIPSPUB173-1, Spacial Data Transfer Standard 
(SDTS). This standard is also available for inspection at the Office of 
the Federal Register, 800 North Capitol Street, NW., Suite 700, 
Washington, D.C. This incorporation by reference was approved by the 
Director of the Federal Register in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552(a) and 
1 CFR part 51. These materials are incorporated by reference as they 
exist on the date of approval and a notice of any change in these 
materials will be published in the Federal Register.
    (4) Other categories of electronic records. Agencies should 
identify any foreseeable problems in the possible transfer of 
potentially permanent electronic records in accordance with paragraphs 
(d) (1), (2), and (3) of this section at the time the records are 
scheduled. Special transfer requirements agreed upon by NARA and the 
agency shall be included in the disposition instructions.
    (5) NARA consultation. The agency shall consult with NARA for 
guidance on the transfer of types of electronic records other than 
those prescribed in paragraphs (d) (1), (2), and (3) of this section.
    (e) Documentation. Documentation adequate to identify, service and 
interpret electronic records that have been designated for preservation 
by NARA shall be transferred with the records. This documentation shall 
include completed NARA Form 14097, Technical Description for Transfer 
of Electronic Records, and a completed NARA Form 14028, Information 
System Description Form, or their equivalents. Where possible, agencies 
should submit required documentation in an electronic form that 
conforms to the provisions of this section.
    (1) Data files. Documentation for data files and data bases must 
include record layouts, data element definitions, and code translation 
tables (codebooks) for coded data. Data element definitions, codes used 
to represent data values and interpretations of these codes must match 
the actual format and codes as transferred.
    (2) Digital spatial data files. Digital spatial data files shall 
include the documentation specified in paragraph (e)(1) of this 
section. In addition, documentation for digital spatial data files may 
include metadata that conforms to the Federal Geographic Data 
Committee's Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata, as 
specified in Executive Order 12906 of April 11, 1994 (3 CFR, 1995 
Comp., p. 882).
    (3) Documents containing SGML tags. Documentation for electronic 
files containing textual documents with SGML tags shall include a table 
for interpreting the SGML tags, when appropriate.

PART 1234--ELECTRONIC RECORDS MANAGEMENT

    3. The authority citation for part 1234 continues to read:

    Authority: 44 U.S.C. 2904, 3101, and 3105

    4. In Sec. 1234.30, paragraph (a)(4) is revised to read:


Sec. 1234.30  Selection and maintenance of electronic records storage 
media.

    (a) * * *
    (4) If the media contains permanent records and does not meet the 
requirements for transferring permanent records to NARA as outlined in 
Sec. 1228.188 of this chapter, permit the migration of the permanent 
records at the time of transfer to a medium which does meet the 
requirements.
* * * * *
    Dated: October 15, 1997.
John W. Carlin,
Archivist of the United States.
[FR Doc. 97-27822 Filed 10-20-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7515-01-P