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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>71117</law_id><section_number>42.1-86.1</section_number><catch_line>Disposition of public records</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="42.1">Libraries</unit><unit label="chapter" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="7">Virginia Public Records Act</unit></structure><text>
						<section id="A"><p><span class="prefix-number">A.</span> No <span class="dictionary">agency</span> shall sell or give away <span class="dictionary">public records</span>. No <span class="dictionary">agency</span> shall destroy or discard a <span class="dictionary">public record</span> unless (i) the record appears on a <span class="dictionary">records retention and disposition schedule</span> approved pursuant to &#xA7; <a class="law" title="Duties and powers of Library Board" href="/42.1-82/">42.1-82</a> and the record&#x2019;s retention period has expired; (ii) a certificate of records destruction, as designated by the <span class="dictionary">Librarian of Virginia</span>, has been properly completed and approved by the <span class="dictionary">agency</span>&#x2019;s designated records officer; and (iii) there is no <span class="dictionary">litigation</span>, audit, investigation, request for records pursuant to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (&#xA7; <a class="law" title="Short title; policy" href="/2.2-3700/">2.2-3700</a> et seq.), or renegotiation of the relevant <span class="dictionary">records retention and disposition schedule</span> pending at the expiration of the retention period for the applicable records series. After a record is destroyed or discarded, the <span class="dictionary">agency</span> shall forward the original certificate of records destruction to The Library of Virginia. <a id="paragraph-256406" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/42.1-86.1/#A"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="B"><p><span class="prefix-number">B.</span> No <span class="dictionary">agency</span> shall destroy any <span class="dictionary">public record</span> created before 1912 without first offering it to The Library of Virginia. <a id="paragraph-256407" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/42.1-86.1/#B"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="C"><p><span class="prefix-number">C.</span> Each <span class="dictionary">agency</span> shall ensure that records created after July 1, 2006 and authorized to be destroyed or discarded in accordance with subsection A, are destroyed or discarded in a timely manner in accordance with the provisions of this chapter; provided, however, such records that contain identifying information as defined in clauses (iii) through (ix), or clause (xii) of subsection C of &#xA7; <a class="law" title="Identity theft; penalty; restitution; victim assistance" href="/18.2-186.3/">18.2-186.3</a>, shall be destroyed within six months of the expiration of the records retention period. <a id="paragraph-256408" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/42.1-86.1/#C"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section></text><history>1990, c. 778; 1998, c. 427; 2005, c. 787; 2006, cc. 60, 909.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
