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Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017

Electronic transactions - Application of legal requirements to electronic transactions - Legal requirement: retention

229: Legal requirement to retain document or information that is in paper or other non-electronic form

You could also call this:

“Keeping paper records safe by turning them into digital files”

You can keep information that’s on paper or in another non-electronic form by saving it electronically. This is okay as long as you make sure the electronic version is reliable and keeps the information accurate. You also need to be able to easily find and use the information later when you need it.

If the information is a public record, you can only keep it electronically if the Chief Archivist says it’s okay. The Chief Archivist is a person who looks after important government records.

Once you’ve saved the information electronically in the right way, you don’t need to keep the paper or non-electronic version anymore. You can get rid of it if you want to.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM6844478.

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Business > Industry rules Money and consumer rights > Consumer protection
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"Electronic signatures are usually trustworthy if they follow certain rules"

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230: Legal requirement to retain information that is in electronic form, or

"Rules for keeping electronic information safe and easy to find"

Part 4 Electronic transactions
Application of legal requirements to electronic transactions: Legal requirement: retention

229Legal requirement to retain document or information that is in paper or other non-electronic form

  1. A legal requirement to retain information that is in paper or any other non-electronic form is met by retaining an electronic form of the information if—

  2. the electronic form provides a reliable means of assuring that the integrity of the information is maintained; and
    1. the information is readily accessible so as to be usable for subsequent reference.

      1. Subsection (1) applies to information that is a public record within the meaning of the Public Records Act 2005 only if the Chief Archivist has approved the retention of that information in electronic form.

      2. To avoid doubt, if information is retained in electronic form in accordance with subsection (1), the paper or other non-electronic form of that information need not be retained.

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