Terms and charges

The National Archives does not charge agencies to store and manage the following:

  • records sentenced as 'national archives'
  • temporary records that have been sentenced and reached their destruction due date, when the controlling agency has agreed to their destruction
  • temporary records with a national security classification of 'secret' or above
  • unsentenced records that are already in our custody but which were created before 1964, unless your organisation is a Government Business Enterprise
  • records from agencies exempted from the Archives Act
  • personal records of key Commonwealth People

Your agency will be charged for any records stored at the Archives that do not fit into the above catagories. Your agency will be charged penalty rates for the storage of unsentenced records with a starting date later than 1964.

Storage, retrieval and destruction charges

When records that your agency controls for the Commonwealth are subject to charges, you will be billed annually according to rates that are set and reviewed each year.

For information about current rates for storage, retrieval and destruction please contact the Agency Service Centre.

Unsentenced records with a starting date later than 1964

Unsentenced records are not normally accepted into Archives custody. Continuing to store records that have no established value is wasteful. Surcharges are applied to unsentenced records that were transferred after 1964 and are still in custody.

Storage charges for Government Business Enterprises (GBE)

The Department of Finance and Administration defines a Government Business Enterprise as:

a corporate entity controlled by the Government with a principal function of trading goods or services in the market for the purpose of earning a commercial return

Examples include Airservices Australia and the Defence Housing Authority.

The Department of Finance and Administration determines which agencies are Government Business Enterprises for charging purposes.

Government Business Enterprises attract surcharges for all unsentenced non-security-classified records remaining with the Archives, regardless of when they were created.

For more information

Please contact the Agency Service Centre if you have any questions about this information.