HMRC Tax Bulletin issue 37 gives guidance on the retention of records. Records may be preserved on optical imaging systems, and the originals discarded, provided that what is retained in digital form represents a complete and unaltered image of the underlying paper documents. This is true as long as these methods capture all the information needed to demonstrate that the records are proven to yield information in a legible form. HMRC acknowledges the importance of British Standard BSI DISC PD0008.

The Civil Evidence Act 1995 states that presenting documents that have not been altered since their creation or have a clear audit trail that shows any and all changes since their creation holds a greater ‘weight’ than a document that cannot show these procedures. Sections 8 and 9 of the Act demonstrate the legal guidelines for electronic documents as evidence. The law can be interpreted to show that an original document is not the only admissible evidence in a civil court. Electronic copies of documents are acceptable so long as their integrity can be shown.

For Local Authorities implementing the Freedom of Information Act, the Department for Constitutional Affairs has issued a Records Management Code of Practice, the ‘Section 46 Code’. This code states: "Authorities should seek to conform to the provisions of BSI’s BIP 0008 Code of Practice for Legal Admissibility and Evidential Weight of Information Stored Electronically (2nd edition) - especially for those records likely to be required as evidence." This is a direct requirement for all public bodies to implement the code of practice.