§ 2–1701. Definitions.

*NOTE: This section includes amendments by emergency legislation that will expire on January 28, 2025. To view the text of this section after the expiration of all emergency and temporary legislation affecting this section, click this link: Permanent Version.*

For the purposes of this chapter, the term:

(1) Repealed.

(1A) “Administrator” means the Public Records Administrator of the District of Columbia, established by § 2-1702(b).

(2) “Agency” means any board, commission, department, division, institution, authority, independent authority, or part thereof, of the District, except the entities listed in § 2-1714(b).

(3) “Archival quality” means a quality of photographic reproduction consistent with standards specified by the American National Standards Institute.

(4) “Archival record” means any non-current record of an organization or institution that is preserved permanently because of its continuing and enduring administrative, legal, fiscal, or historical value. For the purposes of this definition, the term:

(A) “Administrative value” means the usefulness of a record to the agency in which the record originated or to the succeeding agency for conducting current business.

(B) “Fiscal value” means any record necessary or useful to document and verify financial authorizations, obligations, or transactions.

(C) “Historical value” means a record that merits long-term preservation because the record contains significant information about the organization and function of government agencies, or unique information about persons, places, and subjects with which public agencies deal.

(D) “Legal value” means any record that documents the legal or civil rights of individuals or government agencies.

(5) “Committee” means the Records Disposition Committee established by § 2-1705.

(6) “Custodian” means the public official in charge of an office having public records.

(6A) Repealed.

(6B) “Digital” means in a format that is computer readable.

(7) “District” means the District of Columbia government.

(8) “Executive Office” means the Executive Office of the Mayor of the District of Columbia.

(9) “Inactive public record” means a public record which the agency which created or received the record no longer needs to retain in its custody for the transaction of public business.

(10) “Microreproduction equipment” means photographic equipment designed to produce microimages of documents.

(11) “Nonrecord” means any library or other reference materials or records maintained solely for convenience or reference.

(12) “Office” means the District of Columbia Office of Public Records Management, Archival Administration, and Library of Governmental Information established by § 2-1702(a).

(13) “Public record” means any document, book, photographic image, electronic data recording, electronic mail or other communications transmitted electronically, including through any electronic messaging service or mobile messaging application, paper, video recording, sound recording, microfilm, computer disk, or other material, regardless of physical form or characteristic, that documents a transaction or activity made, received, or retained pursuant to law or in connection with the transaction of public business by or with any officer or employee of the District. The medium upon which such information is recorded shall have no bearing on the determination of whether the record is a public record.

(14) “Records disposition” means the removal by a District agency or other governmental unit of a record no longer necessary for the conduct of public business in accordance with records control schedules and removal methods and procedures approved by the Office.

(14A) “Records management officer” means any person whose responsibilities, according to § 2-1706, include the development and oversight of an agency’s records management program.

(15) “Records retention schedule” means a document listing all records series of a given class, or originating in a particular agency, specifying records to be retained permanently and authorizing on a continuing basis the destruction of other series of records after a specified time period has elapsed.

(16) “Retention period” means the period of time for which a record must be retained.

(17) “Secretary” means the Secretary of the District of Columbia.