New South Wales Consolidated Acts

STATE RECORDS ACT 1998 - SECT 5

5 Application of Act to State collecting institutions

(1) This Act does not apply to a State record that is a private record in the collection of a State collecting institution. A "private record" is a record that would not be a State record had it not been taken into the collection of a State collecting institution.

Note: A record can become a State record as a result of being taken into the collection of a State collecting institution. This is so because it is a record that is “received and kept (in the collection) … in the course of the exercise of official functions in a public office”, it being an official function of a State collecting institution to take things into its collection (see the definition of "State record"). There will therefore be 2 kinds of State records in a collection, namely (1) private records that became State records as a result of being taken into the collection (and that would otherwise not be State records), and (2) records that are already State records before being taken into the collection. The purpose of subsection (1) is to exempt all the records in category (1) from the operation of this Act.

(2) The provisions of the following Parts do not apply to a State record in the collection of a State collecting institution (other than a prescribed State collecting institution) if the record was taken into that collection before the commencement of this section, except to the extent (if any) that the Authority and the State collecting institution may otherwise agree:

• Part 2 (Records management responsibilities of public offices)

• Part 4 (Authority entitled to control of State records not currently in use)

• Part 6 (Public access to State records after 30 years).

(3) The Authority may enter into agreements for the purposes of subsection (2) providing for the application (with or without specified modifications) of any of the provisions of Parts 2, 4 and 6 to records taken into the collection of a State collecting institution before the commencement of this section.

Note: These agreements cannot apply to private records in the collection of a State collecting institution because private records are exempt from the operation of the Act under subsection (1).

(4) A State record that is a private record in the collection of a State collecting institution ceases to be a State record if the State collecting institution ceases to exist.