Records Management and the Law

There is no one piece of legislation that summarises our University's records management responsiblities. We are though statutorily obliged to comply with numerous Parliamentary Acts and associated legislation.

The sections below outline just a few of the Acts which impact on our records managemend and have influenced the records retention schedules that we must comply with. Some of the Acts date back to the 1950s. For ease of reference, we have grouped the legislation into decades and readers can view the Acts by clicking on the hyper-links.

Acts of the UK and Scottish Parliaments

1950-1959

• 1957 c.31 Occupiers Liability Act 1957

1960-1969

• 1969 C.57 Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969

1970-1979

• 1970 c.9  Taxes Management Act 1970
• 1970 c.41 Equal Pay Act 1970 (Superceded by the Equality Act 2010)
• 1973 c.52  Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973 
• 1974 c.37  Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974
• 1975 c.65  Sex Discrimination Act 1975
• 1976 c.74  Race Relations Act 1976
• 1977 c.50  Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977

 1988-1989

• 1980 c.58  Limitation Act 1980
• 1988 c.48  Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
• 1988 c.32   Civil Evidence (Scotland) Act 1998
• 1989 c.40  Companies Act 1989

1990-1999

• 1990 c.18  Computer Misuse Act 1990
• 1992 c.4  Social Security contributions & Benefits Act 1992
• 1994 c.9  Finance Act 1994
• 1994 c.23  Value Added Tax Act 1994
• 1994 c.30  Education Act 1994
• 1995 c.50  Disability Discrimination Act 1995
• 1998 c.29  Data Protection Act 1998
• 1998 c.42  Human Rights Act 1998

2000 - Present

• 2000 c.7  Electronic Communications Act 2000
• 2000 c.23  Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000
• 2002 c.22 Employment Act 2002
• 2010 c. 1 Video Recording Act 2010
• 2010 c. 7 Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies and Credit Unions Act 2010
• 2010 c.15  Equality Act 2010
• 2010 c.23  Bribery Act 2010
• 2011 c. 23 Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures Act 2011
• 2011 c. 25 Charities Act 2011
• 2014 c. 18 Intellectual Property Act 2014
• 2014 c. 27 Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014
• 2015 c. 6 Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015

Acts and Statutory Instruments of the Scottish Parliament

• 1997  The Special Waste (Scotland) Regulations 1997
• 2000 asp 11 Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Scotland) Act 2000
• 2000 no 78 Public Finance & Accountability (Scotland) Act
• 2001 asp 6 Education (Graduate Endowment & Student Support) (Scotland) Act
• 2002 asp.13  Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
• 2002 No 55  Ethical Standards in Public Life etc. (Scotland) Act
• 2004 No204  The Special Waste Amendment (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2004
• 2005 asp 10   Charities & Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act
• 2005 asp 6  Further & Higher Education (Scotland) Act
• 2005 asp 16  Licensing (Scotland) Act
• 2005 asp 13 Smoking, Health & Social Care (Scotland) Act
• 2006 asp 11  Animal Health & Welfare (Scotland) Act
• 2006 asp 4  Human Tissue (Scotland) Act
• 2006 asp 17 Planning, etc. (Scotland) Act
• 2007 asp 12  Aquaculture & Fisheries (Scotland) Act
• 2008 asp 3 Graduate Endowment Abolition (Scotland) Act
• 2008 asp 7  Scottish Register of Tartans Act
• 2009 asp 4 Damages (Asbestos-related Conditions) (Scotland) Act
• 2009 asp 3 Disabled Persons’ Parking Places (Scotland) Act
• 2010 asp 18  Alcohol, etc. (Scotland) Act
• 2010 asp 5  Marine (Scotland) Act
• 2011 asp 12  Public Records (Scotland) Act
• 2011 asp 3  Historic Environment (Amendment) (Scotland) Act
• 2011 asp 6 Wildlide & Natural Environment (Scotland) Act
• 2012 asp 5 Land Registration etc (Scotland) Act 2012 
• 2013 asp 7  Aquaculture & Fisheries (Scotland) Act
• 2013 asp 2  Feeedom of Information (Amendment) Scotland) Act 2013
• 2014 asp 12  Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act
• 2014 No. 50 - The Ethical Standards in Public Life etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 (Register of Interests) Amendment Regulations 2014
• 2014 No. 83 - The Electronic Documents (Scotland) Regulations 2014
• 2014 No. 335 - The Charities Accounts (Scotland) Amendment (No.2) Regulations 2014
• 2015 asp 14 Legal Writings (Counterparts and Delivery) (Scotland) Act 2015
• 2015 No. 335 The Public Records (Scotland) Act 2011 (Authorities) Amendment Order 2015
• 2015 No. 446 The Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015
• 2016 No. 56 The Regulations of Investigatory Powers (Prescription of Ranks and Positions) (Scotland) Order 2016
• 2016 No. 139 The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (Designation of Persons as Scottish Public Authorities) Order 2016
• 2016 No. 145 The Procurement (Scotland) Regulations 2016

Statutory Instruments of the UK Parliament 

1970-1979

• S.I 1977/500  The Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations
• S.I 1979/628  Social Security (claims and payments) Regulations

1980-1989

• S.I.  1981/917  The Health & Safety (First Aid) Regulations 2005
• S.I.  1982/894  The Statutory Sick Pay (General) Regulations 2005
• S.I.  1985/967  Social Security (Industrial injuries) (Prescribed diseases) Regulations
• S.I.  1986/1680  The Statutory Matenity Pay (General) Regulations 1986
• S.I.  1987/1680  Consumer Protection Act 1987
• S.I.  1989/635  The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989
• S.I.  1989/682  The Health & Safety Information for Employees Regulations 1989
• S.I.  1989//1790  The Noise at Work Regulations 1989

1990 - Present

• S.I. 1991/2680  The Public Works Contracts Regulations 1991
• S.I.  1991/2839  Environmental Protection (Duty of Care) Regulations 1991
• S.I.  1992/2792  The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations
• S.I.  1992/2793  The Manual Handling Operations Regulations
• S.I.  1992/2932  The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations
• S.I.  1992/2966  The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations
• S.I.  1993/744  The Income Tax (Employment) Regulations
• S.I.  1993/3228  The Public Services Contracts Regulations
• S.I.  1994/233  The Companies Act 1985 (Bank Accounts) Regulations
• S.I.  1995/201  The Public Supply Contracts Regulations
• S.I.  1995/3163  The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurances Regulations
• S.I.  1996/341  The Health & Safety (Safety signs and signals) Regulations
• S.I.  1996/972  The Special Waste Regulations
• S.I.  1996/1513  The Health & Safety (consultation with employees) Regulations
• S.I.  1997/1840  The Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations
• S.I.  1998/1833  The Working Time Regulations
• S.I.  1998/2306  The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations
• S.I.  1998/2307  The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations
• S.I.  1998/2573  The Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Regulations
• S.I.  1999/584  The National Minimum Wage Regulations
• S.I.  1999/3242  The Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations
• S.I.  1999/3312  The Maternity and parental leave etc Regulations
• S.I.  2002/2675  The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations
• S.I.  2002/2676  The Control of Lead at Work Regulations
• S.I.  2002/2677  The Control of Sunstances Hazardous to Health Regulations

Other Provisions

• HMCE 700/21  HM Customes and Excise Notice 700/21: Keeping (VAT) records and accounts
• IR CA30  Statutory Sick Pay Manual for employers CA30

Codes of Practice

• FOI (Scotland) Section 60 Code of Practice: Functions of Public Authorities
• FOI (Scotland) Section 61 Code of Practice: Records Management

Voluntary codes of best practice

• ISO 15489: 2001 Information and Documentation: Records Management
• ISO/IEC 27001: 2013 Information Security Management
• BSI DSC PD500: 2002 Legal admissibility: an international code of practice for electronic documents and e-business transactions of evidence, audit, long-term duty of care
• BS EN 15713: 2009 Secure Destruction of Confidential Material Code of Practice
• CESG 10 Steps to Cyber Security