U.S. Code » Title 44 » Chapter CHAPTER 29— RECORDS MANAGEMENT BY THE ARCHIVIST OF THE UNITED STATES AND BY THE ADMINISTRATOR OF GENERAL SERVICES

44 U.S.C. § 2905

Establishment of standards for selective retention of records; security measures

Read at: OLRCuscode.house.gov CornellLII GovInfogovinfo.gov JustiaTitle 44 CasesGoogle Scholar
(a) The Archivist shall establish standards for the selective retention of records of continuing value, and assist Federal agencies in applying the standards to records in their custody. The Archivist shall notify the head of a Federal agency of any actual, impending, or threatened unlawful removal, defacing, alteration, or destruction of records in the custody of the agency that shall come to the Archivist’s attention, and assist the head of the agency in initiating action through the Attorney General for the recovery of records unlawfully removed and for other redress provided by law. In any case in which the head of the agency does not initiate an action for such recovery or other redress within a reasonable period of time after being notified of any such unlawful action, the Archivist shall request the Attorney General to initiate such an action, and shall notify the Congress when such a request has been made.(b) The Archivist shall assist the Administrator for the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in conducting studies and developing standards relating to record retention requirements imposed on the public and on State and local governments by Federal agencies.(Pub. L. 90–620, Oct. 22, 1968, 82 Stat. 1296; Pub. L. 96–511, § 2(c)(2), Dec. 11, 1980, 94 Stat. 2825; Pub. L. 98–497, title I, § 107(b)(15)(B), title II, § 203(a), Oct. 19, 1984, 98 Stat. 2288, 2294; Pub. L. 113–187, § 8(8), Nov. 26, 2014, 128 Stat. 2012.)Historical and Revision Notes

Based on 44 U.S. Code, 1964 ed., § 395(b) (June 30, 1949, ch. 288, title V, § 505(b), as added Sept. 5, 1950, ch. 849, § 6(d), 64 Stat. 583).

Editorial NotesAmendments

2014—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 113–187 substituted “The Archivist shall notify” for “He shall notify” and “the Archivist’s attention” for “his attention”.

1984—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 98–497, § 107(b)(15)(B), substituted “Archivist” for “Administrator of General Services”.

Pub. L. 98–497, § 203(a), inserted “In any case in which the head of the agency does not initiate an action for such recovery or other redress within a reasonable period of time after being notified of any such unlawful action, the Archivist shall request the Attorney General to initiate such an action, and shall notify the Congress when such a request has been made.”

Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 98–497, § 107(b)(15)(B), substituted “Archivist” for “Administrator of General Services”.

1980—Pub. L. 96–511 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a) and added subsec. (b).

Statutory Notes and Related SubsidiariesEffective Date of 1984 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 98–497 effective Apr. 1, 1985, see section 301 of Pub. L. 98–497, set out as a note under section 2102 of this title.

Effective Date of 1980 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 96–511 effective on Apr. 1, 1981, see section 5 of Pub. L. 96–511, set out as a note under section 2904 of this title.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 22 cases (4 in the last 5 years), 1980–2024 · leading case: Scott Armstrong v. George Bush, 924 F.2d 282 (D.C. Cir. 1991).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Scott Armstrong v. George Bush, 924 F.2d 282 (D.C. Cir. 1991). · cites it 4× “They point out that the FRA expressly provides for judicial review only in an action, initiated by the Attorney General at the request of the Archivist or an agency head, to prevent the unlawful removal or destruction of documents.”
Kissinger v. Reporters Comm. for Freedom of the Press, 445 U.S. 136 (1980). · cites it 2× “44 U. S. C. § 2905 . At the behest of these administrators, the Attorney General may bring suit to recover the records.”
Am. Friends Serv. Comm. v. William H. Webster, Dir., Fed. Bureau of Investigation, (Three Cases), 720 F.2d 29 (D.C. Cir. 1983). · cites it 4× “The Attorney General had not taken action, as he is authorized to do with GSA’s assistance-, see 44 U.S.C. §§ 2905 , 3106, to recover the documents.”
Armstrong v. Exec. Off. of the President, 810 F. Supp. 335 (D.D.C. 1993). · cites it 5× “44 U.S.C. § 2905 . In light of the foregoing, the Plaintiffs particularly seek preservation of and access to the Defendants’ computerized systems known as PROFS, OASIS, and A-l, on which the Defendants send e-mail, write documents, transmit messages inter- and intra-agency and…”
Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics v. U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec., 592 F. Supp. 2d 111 (D.D.C. 2009). · cites it 3× “In any case in which the head of the agency does not initiate an action for such recovery or other redress within a reasonable period of time after being notified of any such unlawful action, the Archivist shall request the Attorney General to initiate such an action, and shall…”
Pub. Citizen v. Carlin, 2 F. Supp. 2d 1 (D.D.C. 1997). · cites it 3× “44 U.S.C. § 2905 (a); see also 44 U.S.C. § 3106 (requiring agency heads to notify the Archivist of any unlawful destruction or removal of records and placing upon them an independent duty to seek legal action through the Attorney General to recover the records).”
Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics v. United States Dep't of Homeland Sec., 527 F. Supp. 2d 101 (D.D.C. 2007). “See 44 U.S.C. §§ 2905 (a) & 3106. 13 . Section 3106 provides in relevant part: The head of each Federal agency shall notify the Archivist of any actual, impending, or threatened unlawful removal, defacing, alteration, or destruction of records in the custody of the agency of…”
Gerlich v. United States Dep't of Just., 659 F. Supp. 2d 1 (D.D.C. 2009). “2007); see also 44 U.S.C. §§ 2905 , 3106. 20 . Although most of the declaratory relief sought by plaintiffs concerns DOJ alone, the individual defendants are also named in connection with Count VIII.”
Competitive Enter. Inst. v. United States Env't Prot. Agency, 67 F. Supp. 3d 23 (D.D.C. 2014). “See 44 U.S.C. §§ 2905 (a) & 3106. Because CEI’s Amended Complaint alleges that EPA Administrators failed to notify the Archivist of the unlawful destruction of federal records, the Court focuses on the statutory provisions that apply to the head of an agency- 3 .”
Jud. Watch, Inc. v. Nat'l Archives & Records Admin., 845 F. Supp. 2d 288 (D.D.C. 2012). “44 U.S.C. § 2905 (a). C. Procedural Background Plaintiff Judicial Watch, Inc.”
Cause of Action Inst. v. Tillerson, 285 F. Supp. 3d 201 (D.C. Cir. 2018). “" 44 U.S.C. § 2905 (a) (emphasis added). Similarly, once the agency head becomes aware of "any actual, impending, or threatened unlawful, removal, defacing, alteration, or destruction of records," the agency head "shall notify the Archivist" and "with the assistance of the…”
Wagdy v. Sullivan, 316 F. Supp. 3d 257 (D.C. Cir. 2018). · cites it 2× “In Wagdy's opposition, she claims that this Court "can ensure the agency's conformance with the FRA in removing the false record" pursuant to 44 U.S.C. § 2905 (a), an FRA provision mentioned nowhere in her complaint.”
Show all 22 citing cases →
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.