Territory Records Office
The Territory Records Office is responsible for the implementation of the Territory Records Act 2002 
. The main purposes of this Act are—
- To encourage open and accountable government by ensuring that Territory records are made, managed and, if appropriate, preserved in accessible form; and
- To preserve Territory records for the benefit of present and future generations; and
- To ensure that public access to records is consistent with the principles of the Freedom of Information Act 1989 .
The Territory Records Office assists Territory agencies to meet their Records Management requirements as set out in the Territory Records Act 2002 . The Standards for Records Management used by all agencies in the development of their Records Management Programs have been developed by the Territory Records Office.
The Territory Records Act 2002 establishes that each agency is required to develop and maintain a Records Management Program that includes requirements for the creation, management, protection, preservation, storage and disposal of, and access to records of the agency. Agencies are required to develop a Records Management Program that is appropriate and relevant to their functional requirements utilising the Standards and Codes approved by the Director of Territory Records. The Director will ensure that there is a consistent approach to implementing the Standards across government so that records use common terminology and recordkeeping can easily be monitored. A thesaurus of common administrative terms and a disposal schedule for the records of common administrative functions have been developed by the Territory Records Office. An agency’s Records Management Program, which will be the public face of an agency’s recordkeeping practices, will be the primary vehicle for accountability and is to be open for public inspection.
The Territory Records Act 2002 commenced on the 1 July 2003. It should be noted however, that Part 3 (Access to records) does not commence until 1 July 2008. Until the Access provisions of the Territory Records Act 2002 commence, the records of ACT Government agencies remain available under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 1989
For more information on the Territory Records Office go to http://www.territoryrecords.act.gov.au/index
