Category: Information Governance Principles
Principle of Retention
Also known as: Retention Principle
Simply put
The Principle of Retention is the recordkeeping idea that an organization should keep its records and other information for an appropriate length of time and no longer. How long is appropriate depends on legal, regulatory, operational, and other requirements, which vary by jurisdiction and sector.
Formal definition
The Principle of Retention holds that an organization maintains its information assets for an appropriate period, determined by legal, regulatory, fiscal, operational, and historical requirements that typically vary by jurisdiction and sector. In practice it is operationalized through retention policies and schedules that specify how long defined classes of records are kept before disposition, which may include destruction, transfer, or permanent preservation rather than deletion alone. The principle should be distinguished from disposition (the broader set of outcomes following retention) and from mechanisms such as retention labels or policies in specific records or content systems, which are tools for applying retention rather than the principle itself. Note that the phrase is sometimes used loosely in fields such as learning or marketing to mean retaining people or knowledge; those senses fall outside the recordkeeping meaning.
Why it matters
The Principle of Retention matters because keeping records for the right length of time, neither too briefly nor too long, directly affects an organization's legal defensibility, operational efficiency, and exposure to risk. Records destroyed too early may leave an organization unable to meet statutory retention requirements, respond to litigation or audit, or demonstrate that an activity occurred. Records kept too long, by contrast, can increase storage costs, complicate discovery, and expand the surface area of privacy and security risk, since information that no longer serves a legal or business purpose still has to be secured and governed. The principle helps organizations navigate this tension by anchoring retention decisions to defined requirements rather than to habit or convenience.
Who it's relevant to
Records managers
Records managers are typically responsible for developing and maintaining retention schedules that translate the principle into concrete periods for defined record classes. They balance legal, operational, and historical requirements and coordinate the disposition outcomes, destruction, transfer, or permanent preservation, that follow the retention period.
Information governance officers
Information governance officers view retention as one component of a broader accountability framework spanning policy, risk, privacy, security, and value. They are concerned with ensuring that retention decisions are defensible, consistently applied, and aligned with the organization's overall governance posture rather than treated in isolation.
Compliance and legal professionals
Compliance leads and legal professionals rely on the principle to ensure the organization meets statutory and regulatory retention obligations, which typically vary by jurisdiction and sector. They also depend on defensible retention practices when records must be produced for audit, litigation, or regulatory inquiry.
Data protection and privacy professionals
Privacy professionals apply the principle to limit how long personal information is held, keeping it only for as long as it serves a legitimate purpose. Where destruction is warranted, they are often concerned that personal information be irreversibly destroyed so that it cannot be reconstructed.
Systems and content administrators
Administrators of records or content systems implement retention through mechanisms such as retention labels and policies, sometimes applying flowchart-style logic to determine whether an item is retained or permanently deleted. They should recognize that these tools apply the principle but are distinct from the principle itself.
Inside Principle of Retention
Retention as an accountability obligation
The Principle of Retention is one of the Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles published by ARMA International. It holds that an organization should maintain its records and information for an appropriate period of time, taking into account legal, regulatory, fiscal, operational, and historical requirements. The emphasis is on retaining information for the right length of time rather than indefinitely.
Appropriate time period
Central to the principle is the concept of an 'appropriate' retention period, which is determined by reference to applicable legal and regulatory requirements, business needs, and other value considerations. What is appropriate typically varies by record type, jurisdiction, and sector, so the principle points to a defensible basis for setting periods rather than prescribing any specific duration.
Multiple sources of retention requirements
The principle recognizes that retention requirements commonly arise from several sources at once, including statutory and regulatory mandates, litigation and legal hold obligations, fiscal and audit needs, operational usefulness, and potential historical or archival value. These sources may impose differing periods, and the governing period is often the longest applicable requirement.
Relationship to the wider Principles
Retention operates alongside the other Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles, such as accountability, integrity, protection, compliance, availability, disposition, and transparency. Retention is closely linked to disposition: retention defines how long information is kept, while disposition governs what happens once the retention period ends, which may include transfer, permanent preservation, or destruction depending on organizational policy.
Basis in a retention schedule
In practice, the principle is typically operationalized through a records retention schedule that documents record classes, their retention periods, the authority or rationale for each period, and the disposition action to follow. The schedule provides the defensible framework the principle calls for.
Common questions
Answers to the questions practitioners most commonly ask about Principle of Retention.
Does the Principle of Retention simply mean keeping records for as long as possible?
No. The Principle of Retention concerns maintaining information assets for an appropriate length of time, not the longest possible time. Retaining records beyond the period justified by legal, regulatory, operational, or historical need can increase cost, risk, and discovery exposure. The aim is retention that is defensible and proportionate to the reasons for keeping the record, after which disposition should follow the organization's schedule.
Is retention the same as archiving or permanent preservation?
Not necessarily. Retention refers to keeping a record for a defined period determined by its value and applicable requirements. Archiving and permanent preservation are outcomes that may apply to a subset of records identified as having enduring value, and they are typically reached through the disposition process rather than being synonymous with retention itself. Many records reach the end of their retention period and are dispositioned by destruction or transfer rather than preserved permanently. Depending on organizational policy and jurisdiction, the distinction between temporary retention and permanent preservation is usually reflected in the retention schedule.
How is an appropriate retention period typically determined?
Retention periods are generally set by analyzing the legal, regulatory, operational, fiscal, and historical value of each record class, then documenting the result in a retention schedule. Because statutory retention requirements vary by jurisdiction and sector, organizations often combine legal research with input from records, legal, compliance, and business stakeholders. The resulting period reflects the longest applicable justified need for that record class, subject to organizational policy.
What role does a retention schedule play in applying the principle?
A retention schedule is the practical instrument through which retention decisions are documented and applied consistently. It typically maps record classes to retention periods and to the disposition action that follows, providing a defensible basis for both keeping and disposing of records. Applying the principle in practice usually depends on maintaining, approving, and regularly reviewing such a schedule.
How should legal holds interact with established retention periods?
When a legal hold applies, the ordinary retention period is typically suspended for the affected records so they are preserved beyond their scheduled disposition until the hold is lifted. This means retention and disposition actions may be overridden by hold obligations. The specifics of when a hold arises and how it is administered depend on jurisdiction and organizational policy, so retention practices should include a mechanism to identify and honor holds.
What happens when a record's retention period ends?
Reaching the end of a retention period generally triggers a disposition decision defined in the schedule, which may involve destruction, transfer to another custodian, or, for records of enduring value, permanent preservation. Disposition is not automatically destruction. Organizations often document the disposition action taken to maintain an auditable, defensible record of how the principle was applied, subject to any active legal holds.
Common misconceptions
The Principle of Retention means keeping records as long as possible, or indefinitely, to be safe.
The principle calls for retaining information for an appropriate period, not the maximum possible. Over-retention typically increases storage cost, privacy and security exposure, and discovery burden, and may itself conflict with legal or policy obligations to dispose of information once its retention basis has lapsed.
Retention and disposition are the same thing, and reaching the end of a retention period automatically means destruction.
Retention concerns how long information is kept; disposition concerns the action taken when that period ends. Disposition may involve transfer to another custodian, permanent preservation, or destruction, depending on the record's value and organizational policy. Destruction is only one possible disposition outcome, and it may be suspended by a legal hold.
A single retention period applies uniformly to all of an organization's records.
Appropriate periods typically differ by record type and are shaped by legal, regulatory, fiscal, operational, and historical factors that vary across jurisdictions and sectors. Where multiple requirements apply to the same record, the longest applicable period generally governs, which is why retention is normally expressed through a differentiated schedule rather than one blanket rule.
Best practices
Maintain a documented retention schedule that assigns each record class an appropriate retention period, cites the legal, regulatory, fiscal, operational, or historical basis for that period, and specifies the disposition action to follow.
Identify all applicable sources of retention requirements for each record type, and where they differ, apply the longest applicable period; qualify determinations by jurisdiction and sector, since requirements vary.
Distinguish retention from disposition in policy and procedure, making clear that the end of a retention period triggers a defined disposition decision that may be transfer, permanent preservation, or destruction rather than automatic destruction.
Suspend normal retention and disposition through a legal hold mechanism when litigation, investigation, or audit is reasonably anticipated, and lift the hold only under documented authority.
Review and update retention periods periodically to reflect changes in law, regulation, business need, and the organization's risk tolerance, and record the rationale for changes.
Guard against both premature destruction and over-retention by applying disposition consistently once retention periods lapse and no hold is in place, so that information is kept for an appropriate time and no longer.