4. The challenges of best practice
So far, we have discussed the reasons why some organisations worry that their scanned documents are not admissible in court, what the law has to say on the issue, and some of the internationally recognised benchmarks that provide a common ground for best practice.
We have not, however, covered exactly what a business needs to do in order to prove that they are compliant with standards such as BS 10008 and ISO 15081.
Implementing one of these processes can be difficult and costly. Although these standards are designed with clarity and consistency in mind, they are by their very nature rigorous – and therefore taxing to adhere to.
This makes a good business case for the outsourcing of the document scanning process. Instead of attempting to put together a BS 10008 or ISO 15081-compliant electronic document storage solution in-house, an organisation might employ an accredited subcontractor to accomplish much the same thing, without affecting day-to-day productivity.
Drawing on the expertise of a third party who is fluent in these standards is particularly advisable for an organisation that is going paperless for the first time. If there is an extensive amount of paperwork to scan, it is important to get the task right first time around to avoid making costly errors.
Building on three decades of experience in storage and archiving, Dajon Data Management has spent the past few years putting together a portfolio of fully accredited digitisation services. These include document scanning, online backup and a range of cloud and enterprise solutions.
We are confident that, should civil disputes arise, our clients’ electronically stored information will not be successfully challenged as to its authenticity in court – and that they will continue to reap the benefits of having adopted a paperless office.
Sources
AIIM, ‘Winning the Paper Wars – capture the content and mobilize the process troops’ (http://www.aiim.org/Research-and-Publications/Research/Industry-Watch/Paper- Wars-2013)
Electronic Communications Act 2000 (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/7/ contents)
Electronic Signatures Regulations 2002 (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/318/ regulation/2/made)
Electronic Commerce Directive 2000 (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ
LexUriServdo?uri=OJ:L:2000:178:0001:0001:EN:PDF)
AIIM, ‘Digital Signatures – Making the Business Case’ (http://www.aiim.org/Research-and-Publications/Research/AIIM-White-Papers/Digital-Signatures)
HM Revenue and Customs, ‘Keeping records for business – what you need to know’ (http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/factsheet/record-keeping.pdf)
The Law Society, ‘Guidance – ownership, storage and destruction of documents’
FCA Handbook, Record keeping (http://media.fshandbook.info/content/FCA/SYSC/9/1. pdf)
Civil Evidence Act 1968 (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/64/contents)
Civil Evidence Act 1995 (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1995/38)
BSI, ‘BS 10008 Evidential Weight and Legal Admissibility of Electronic Information’ (http://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/bs-10008-legal-admissibility-of-electronic-information/)
BSI, ‘Improved practice for the legal admissibility of information stored electronically’ (http://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/about-bsi/media-centre/press-releases/2004/3/ Improved-Practice-For-The-Legal-Admissibility-Of-Information-Stored-Electronically/#. UmYmCHA3vXF)
ISO, ‘ISO/TR 15801:2009 Document management – Information stored electronically – Recommendations for trustworthiness and reliability’ (http://www.iso.org/iso/home/ store/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=50499)
European Commission, ‘MoReq2 – Update and extension of the Model Requirements for the Management of Electronic Records’ (http://ec.europa.eu/archival-policy/moreq/ spec_moreq2_en.htm)
PDF Association (http://www.pdfa.org/p
Contributors
Brian Wall, BML Solutions, www.bmlsolutions.co.uk, Brian@bmlsolutions.co.uk
Michael-Jon Andrews, Barlow Robbins Solicitors, www.BarlowRobbins.com, Michael-JonAndrews@BarlowRobbins.com>