[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 39, Volume 1]
[Revised as of July 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 39CFR262.4]

[Page 103-104]
 
                        TITLE 39--POSTAL SERVICE
 
                 CHAPTER I--UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE
 
PART 262--RECORDS AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT DEFINITIONS--Table of 
Contents
 
Sec. 262.4  Records.

    Recorded information, regardless of media, format, or physical 
characteristics, including electronic data, developed or received by the 
Postal Service in connection with the transaction of its business and 
retained in its custody; for machine-readable records, a collection of 
logically related data treated as a unit.
    (a) Permanent record. A record determined by the office of Corporate 
Accounting or the National Archives and Records Administration as having 
sufficient historical or other value to warrant continued preservation. 
(All other records are considered temporary and must be scheduled for 
disposal.)
    (b) Corporate records. Those records series that are designated by 
the office of Corporate Accounting as containing information of legal, 
audit, obligatory or archival value about events and transactions of 
interest to the entire corporate body of the Postal Service. Corporate 
records are distinguished from operational records, which have value 
only in their day-to-day use, and from precedential files, which have 
value only as examples.

[[Page 104]]

    (c) Active record. A record that contains information used for 
conducting current business.
    (d) Inactive record. A record that contains information which is not 
used for conducting current business, but for which the retention period 
has not yet expired.
    (e) Vital records. Certain records which must be available in the 
event of a national emergency in order to ensure the continuity of 
Postal Service operations and the preservation of the rights and 
interests of the Postal Service, its employees, contractors and 
customers. There are two types of vital records: Emergency Operating 
Records and Rights and Interests Records.
    (1) Emergency operating records. Certain vital records necessary to 
support essential functions of the Postal Service during and immediately 
following a national emergency.
    (2) Rights and interest records. Certain vital records maintained to 
ensure the preservation of the rights and interests of the Postal 
Service, its employees, contractors and customers.

[49 FR 30693, Aug. 1, 1984, as amended at 51 FR 26385, July 23, 1986; 60 
FR 57344, Nov. 15, 1995; 63 FR 6481, Feb. 9, 1998; 64 FR 41290, July 30, 
1999]