Legal admissibility of electronic documents

STOP PRESS - JUST UPDATED
Legal Requirements for Document Management in Europe
This publication gives details of the legal requirements for electronic documents in major European countries - to download click here

Following the publication of the British Standard BS 10008:2008 Specification for Evidential Weight and Legal Admissibility of Electronic Information, (view details here), Group 5 Training introduced a family of compliance services designed to assist you to benefit from it's implementation within your organisation.

Compliance is easier to achieve using the services of Group 5 Training Limited, improving reliance on electronic documents in Court.

Information is a vital company asset. Loss of this information is likely to be catastrophic to your organisation. The cost of storing and retrieving this information is increasing significantly. So many organisations are implementing electronic storage to effectively manage this information.

The British Standard was based on BIP 0008:2004 "Code of Practice for Legal Admissibility and Evidential Weight of Electronic Information". BIP 0008:1999 was used as the starting point for the internationally accepted BS ISO 15801:2004, Electronic imaging - Information stored electronically - Recommendations for trustworthiness and reliability. For a detailed comparison between the Code of Practice and the International Standard, see the downloads section.

In 2008, Group 5 Training Limited edited, on behalf of the British Standards Institution, all 3 parts of the Code of Practice, such that they now form guidance to the implementation of BS 10008. These 3 parts cover:

• information stored electronically (view details here)
• information communicated electronically (view details here)
• linking electronic identity to documents (view details here)

Also available is BIP 0009:2008, Compliance Workbook for BS 10008:2008 (view details here)

Benefits of compliance

At a generic level, BS 10008 has been designed and introduced to enable the:

• improvement in the reliability of the information stored within computer systems;
• reduction of the risk taken when destroying original documents;
• safeguarding of the appropriate evidential value of information stored;
• improvement of access to document archives;
• improvement of system security;
• reduction in system administration costs;
• reduction of document handling, storage and retrieval costs;
• improved awareness of the value of the information asset;
• improved consistency and quality of all information in the organisation.

Compliance to the British Standard or the Code of Practice increases confidence in the organisation's electronic information asset and simplifies the demonstration of meeting quality goals and specific regulatory requirements.

An article written by Alan Shipman in 2004 covers this topic in more detail.

Services available from Group 5 Training

Management Briefing

Provides a common framework for bringing all relevant personnel up to speed, aiding corporate understanding and communications between disciplines. Such sessions often lead to the creation of an effective Project Plan for compliance.

Training Seminars

A formal training course designed to prepare you for achieving compliance can be presented on your premises, designed specifically to meet your needs. Such courses are cost effective for medium and large organisations, reducing staff costs and improving confidentiality.

These intensive seminars can be presented at a location of your choice. For more details, please contact us at a.shipman@group5.co.uk

System Design

If you are designing a system, include the requirements of the British Standard into the System Specification. Group 5 Training can provide valuable assistance in the production of these requirements, thus enabling a compliant system from Day 1 of implementation.

Diagnostic Review

A full and independent review is undertaken of your system, providing you with a written report advising on actions to be undertaken to achieve the benefits of compliance. This review includes a full information security audit of your computer systems.

Gap Analysis

Following the Diagnostic Review, an Action Plan will be designed by Group 5 Training, which will enable rapid progress to be made towards compliance.

Corrective Actions

Having worked on a number of systems, Group 5 Training are well experienced in the best methods of implementing the British Standard. Often our advise has lead to improved efficiencies and reduced operating costs.

Produce Documentation

The British Standard requires documentation to be produced detailing Security, Procedural and Technological specifications. Group 5 Training are geared to produce this documentation, having previously assisted a number of large and small organisations in this task.

Compliance Audit and Certification

Group 5 Training can assist you in demonstrating compliance, by independent audit and completion of the BSI Compliance Workbook (BIP 0009:2008).

Vendors

Can your products be used in a Compliant manner? Group 5 Training can audit your system, and detail any missing facilities that are required for compliance.

Data Sheet

If you would like a copy of our data sheet (.pdf), please see the downloads section.

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