Guidelines concerning the separation of private papers from business records ST/SGB/2007/5 Secretary-General’s bulletin Record-keeping and the management of United Nations archives

Secretary-General’s bulletin Record-keeping and the management of United Nations archives sets out the rules and procedures to be followed in respect of the creation, management and disposition of records, electronic records, archives and non-current records of the United Nations.

Paragraph 3 sub-section 3.3 of the bulletin provides guidelines on separation of private papers and business records upon a staff member’s separation from the United Nations service.

3.3 Prior to separation from service, staff members shall make arrangements for transferring to the Archives and Records Management Section or to the office with delegated authority, those records in their possession which are no longer required for business purposes and shall not remove any records from United Nations premises. The Chief of the Archives and Records Management Section may provide advice regarding the records of a staff member prior to separation from service. Staff members shall be entitled to have a reasonable number of unrestricted records copied at their own expense and to retain their private papers. Guidelines concerning the separation of private papers from business records are set out in the annex to the present bulletin.

Annex: Guidelines concerning the separation of private papers from business records

1. The purpose of the present annex is to provide guidelines for the separation of staff members’ private papers from business records.

2. Records created or received by staff members in connection with, or as a result of, the official work of the United Nations are the property of the United Nations.

3. The following categories of records are considered private papers of staff members:

(a) Personal notes and diaries;

(b) Surplus copies of non-classified United Nations printed documents;

(c) Personal correspondence with no connection to a staff member’s official functions, even though filed in a Secretariat office, including social invitations, acknowledgements, correspondence lists and other purely social matters.

4. Upon retirement, staff members may remove the private papers specified in

Paragraph 3 above.