Physical Records Transfer & Offsite Storage

Physical records that are no longer a part of daily office use can be transferred to an offsite storage facility for secure storage and retrieved back to the office when needed.

Records Centre Services (RCS) manages contracts with private records storage facilities to provide cost-effective and secure offsite storage and retrieval services for government. Storage facilities are bonded, insured and meet appropriate international, national and provincial standards for records storage.

Once transferred to offsite storage, records are kept, destroyed or transferred to BC Archives according to their information schedules.

Monthly notices of records due to be destroyed or preserved are posted on the Government Information Management (GIM) Branch Self-Serve Portal (Internal site - IDIR required). Follow the link for additional instructions and to sign up for notification alerts.

Forms

The following forms are required for transfer, storage and retrieval of records:

• Retrieval or Return (ARS 626-633) (PDF)
  Use this form to retrieve or return records that are stored offsite.
• Transfer or Destruction (ARS 653) (PDF)
  Use this form to transfer records to offsite storage or to arrange the destruction of records located on-site in your office. If your office has implemented an internal process to approve the destruction of on-site records, please do not use this form and instead contact your ministry destruction coordinator.
• Manual Box Content List (ARS661) (XLSX)
  Use this template to create a file list when you don’t have a system-generated list and need a template to produce a valid file list.