The Federal Records Act 44 U.S.C. § 3303a(a) provides the public with an opportunity to comment on all schedules for records proposed as temporary. NARA publishes notice in the Federal Register of agency records schedules open for public comment. Schedules and appraisal reports are published on the Federal Government’s eRulemaking portal, regulations.gov, for public review. Each records schedule contains a description of the records at the file unit level as well as their proposed disposition. The appraisal memorandum for the schedule includes additional information about the records. The public has 45 days from date of publication to submit their comments. Comments are submitted using the commenting tools on regulations.gov or via mail.
We consider all in-scope comments submitted by the posted deadline and consult as needed with the Federal agency seeking the disposition authority. After considering comments, we create a “Consolidated Reply” summarizing the comments, our responses to them, and noting any changes we have made to the proposed records schedule. We then send the schedule for final approval by the Archivist of the United States. Finally, we post the “Consolidated Reply” on regulations.gov.
Anyone can subscribe to alerts and receive notifications whenever we post records schedules for public comment. Interested parties can also subscribe to receive alerts whenever NARA updates a docket, such as when a Consolidated Reply is posted on regulations.gov. If you are interested in receiving alerts from either website, please follow NARA’s instructions to set up the alerts. For more information about the records scheduling and appraisal process, see our FAQ.