Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Electronic Transactions (Victoria) Act 2000 - SECT 11

Retention of information and documents

11. Retention of information and documents



(1) If, by or under a law of this jurisdiction, a person is required to record
information in writing, that requirement is taken to have been met if the
person records the information in electronic form, where-

   (a)  at the time of the recording of the information, it was reasonable to
        expect that the information would be readily accessible so as to be
        useable for subsequent reference; and

   (b)  if the regulations require that the information be recorded on a
        particular kind of data storage device, that requirement has been met.

(2) If, by or under a law of this jurisdiction, a person is required to
retain, for a particular period, a document that is in the form of paper, an
article or other material, that requirement is taken to have been met if the
person retains, or causes another person to retain, an electronic form of the
document throughout that period, where-

   (a)  having regard to all the relevant circumstances at the time of the
        generation of the electronic form of the document, the method of
        generating the electronic form of the document provided a reliable
        means of assuring the maintenance of the integrity of the information
        contained in the document; and

   (b)  at the time of the generation of the electronic form of the document,
        it was reasonable to expect that the information contained in the
        electronic form of the document would be readily accessible so as to
        be useable for subsequent reference; and

   (c)  if the regulations require that the electronic form of the document be
        retained on a particular kind of data storage device, that requirement
        has been met throughout that period.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2), the integrity of information contained
in a document is maintained if, and only if, the information has remained
complete and unaltered, apart from-

   (a)  the addition of any endorsement; or

   (b)  any immaterial change-

which arises in the normal course of communication, storage or display.

(4) If, by or under a law of this jurisdiction, a person (the first person) is
required to retain, for a particular period, information that was the subject
of an electronic communication, that requirement is taken to have been met if
the first person retains, or causes another person to retain, in electronic
form, the information throughout that period, where-

   (a)  at the time of commencement of the retention of the information, it
        was reasonable to expect that the information would be readily
        accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; and

   (b)  having regard to all the relevant circumstances at the time of
        commencement of the retention of the information, the method of
        retaining the information in electronic form provided a reliable means
        of assuring the maintenance of the integrity of the information
        contained in the electronic communication; and

   (c)  throughout that period, the first person also retains, or causes the
        other person to retain, in electronic form, such additional
        information obtained by the first person as is sufficient to enable
        the identification of the following-

   (i)  the origin of the electronic communication;

   (ii) the destination of the electronic communication;

   (iii) the time when the electronic communication was sent;

   (iv) the time when the electronic communication was received; and

   (d)  at the time of commencement of the retention of the additional
        information covered by paragraph (c), it was reasonable to expect that
        the additional information would be readily accessible so as to be
        useable for subsequent reference; and

   (e)  if the regulations require that the information be retained on a
        particular kind of data storage device, that requirement has been met
        throughout that period.

(5) For the purposes of subsection (4), the integrity of information that was
the subject of an electronic communication is maintained if, and only if, the
information has remained complete and unaltered, apart from-

   (a)  the addition of any endorsement; or

   (b)  any immaterial change-

which arises in the normal course of communication, storage or display. Note
Section 12 provides for exemption from this section.