Characteristics of an Official Record
An official record or file is a complete, true, unaltered
and accurate record when it is the original file.
Official records:
- May or may not bear an original signature.
- Originates or is retained at one or more Office(s) of Primary Responsibility for the operation or function of the record.
- Was originally a convenience, information, or other non-record to which significant annotations or added signatures have been made.
- Was originally a convenience or information copy but has been retained past the destruction of the original record becoming by default the record.
- When in doubt about the status of a record, it is safest to handle it as an official record.