                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

GENERAL PROVISIONS (§ 16.1-69.54)

A. Each district court shall retain and store its court records as provided in
this article. The Committee on District Courts, after consultation with the
Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia, shall determine the
methods of processing, retention, reproduction and disposal of records and
information in district courts, including records required to be retained in
district courts by statute.

B. Whenever a court record has been reproduced for the purpose of record
retention under this article, such original may be disposed of upon completion
of the Commonwealth&#8217;s audit of the court records unless approval is given
by the Auditor of Public Accounts for earlier disposition. In the event of such
reproduction, the reproduction of the court record shall be retained in
accordance with the retention periods specified in this section. The
reproduction shall have the same force and effect as the original court record
and shall be given the same faith and credit to which the original itself would
have been entitled in any judicial or administrative proceeding.

C. Electronic case papers, whether originating in electronic form or converted
to electronic form, shall constitute the official record of the case. Such
electronic case papers shall also fulfill any statutory requirement that
requires an original, original paper, paper, record, document, facsimile,
memorandum, exhibit, certification, or transcript if such electronic case papers
are in an electronic form approved by the Executive Secretary of the Supreme
Court. When case papers are transmitted between the district and circuit courts
and there is an agreement between the chief judge of the applicable district
court and the clerk of the circuit court for the electronic transmission of case
papers, the case papers shall be transmitted between the courts by an electronic
method approved by the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court, with the
exception of any exhibit that cannot be electronically transmitted. The clerk in
the appellate court may also request that any paper trial records be forwarded
to such clerk.

HISTORY: 1983, c. 499; 2018, cc. 32, 134.