ISO/TS 16949 Document Retention Guidelines

[samsung]

Hi samsung,
Thank you very much for your immediate reply.
In understand the need however, if we will retain this documents/records forever, we will have a problem for storage, as you can see our company is not that big to store all of those documents and records.
Raffy

Although it's a bit troublesome but if you can manage to scan these documents and retain them on HDD or CD/DVD, it can save you a lot of physical space. Hard copies can then be disposed off.

 

[Raffy]

Sounds good, thank you very much.
raffy

 

[Stijloor]

As a rule, decision regarding retention (or disposal) of documents/ records (especially the S&R ones) should be based on risk analysis. Question yourself as to what can happen if the records/ documents are not retained.

We never dispose off such documents since no body knows at which point of time these docs/ records are asked for/ referred to. It's not much troublesome to archive/ hard bind and keep them in safe custody.

That may work in India, but maintaining records beyond an agreed retention time can possibly create a legal precedent here in the USA. Customer agreement and legal advice should be sought pertaining to establishing record retention times. Obviously, that may differ from country to country.

Stijloor.

 

[samsung]

That may work in India, but maintaining records beyond an agreed retention time can possibly create a legal precedent here in the USA. Customer agreement and legal advice should be sought pertaining to establishing record retention times. Obviously, that may differ from country to country.

Stijloor.

If it's so, I can agree with your statement but, infact, in our country, there's no such thing as agreement of record retention with the regulatory bodies and nor do they prescribe any specific time period for which the records are to be retained or disposed of (except for employees health records & few other things). In view of such uncertainties, it all depends on one's own assessment of the things while taking into consideration the risk associated with the task.

Insofar, legal advice matters, the experts can, at the best, let one know the correct interpretation of the regulatory or legal requirements in force but when it comes to defending oneself in any court of law, in case absolutely required, no one can precisely predict when it's going to strike. Based on my experience of liaison with many regulatory bodies in India, I suggest to preserve the S&R records (soft or hard) for an indefinite period of time especially when no rules/ guidelines w.r.t. record retention are prescribed in the applicable laws. As far as I know, most regulatory agencies themselves do not destroy any public records.

 

[ralphsulser]

In the automotive market you need to go to the Customer Specific Requirements for minimum record retention times. For instance Ford may specify something like 3 years for PPAP records, and 1 year after the last part is shipped for inspection records. Our top management specified 7 years for all records related to QMS and Heat Treat lab test records.
What you document on your procedure as retention times must be in compliance with what you are actually doing. You also need to identify your method of storage-boxes in closet, file cabinets, etc and disposal, such as shredding, burning, landfill, recycling, etc.. Electronic records example such as stored on back up tapes, off site in a bank deposit box downtown on a weekly basis.

 

[Jen Kirley]

In a global economy, regulatory influences on practices and procedures can cross international borders. Organizations that manufacture pharmaceuticals and medical instruments for sale in the U.S.A. are subject to FDA requirements, which include recordkeeping methods that could be more strict than the country of manufacture. I agree your legal department should help to identify and navigate these various requirements.

 

[ralphsulser]

In a global economy, regulatory influences on practices and procedures can cross international borders. Organizations that manufacture pharmaceuticals and medical instruments for sale in the U.S.A. are subject to FDA requirements, which include recordkeeping methods that could be more strict than the country of manufacture. I agree your legal department should help to identify and navigate these various requirements.

You are very correct about the global economy.
In the automotive world most of the requirements and regulations are already world wide such as ISO9001/TS16949, ISO14001, MMOG, REACH, etc. plus the customer specific requirements.

 

[Jen Kirley]

You are very correct about the global economy.
In the automotive world most of the requirements and regulations are already world wide such as ISO9001/TS16949, ISO14001, MMOG, REACH, etc. plus the customer specific requirements.

Thank you, and I agree - it can seem confusing to newcomers but I can't remember ever seeing an ISO/TS standard call out specifics for retention requirements. They tend to point to customer and regulatory requirements, along with the organization's needs. That probably doesn't feel helpful for the new user, but it's the right approach though it's more complicated than the standard just prescribing "Retain for X years."

 

[Jojogo]

Im currently looking at this within our company, the archive room is fit for bursting and cant hold much more, Ive looked through customer requirements and found that some dont stiputate others do. So ive split customers up into their main types of business, ie Aerospace , Automotive, Space are General and have assigned retention periods for each, based on customer requirements that we already hold for that particular type of customer.

Aerospace = Indefinate
Automotive = 15 years
MOD = Indefinate
Space = 10 year
General = 5 years
Medical = ? Jury still out on this one

I intend to have a major shredding week and scan all the documents that i need to keep, which will free up room for the samples and records i cant scan and need to keep.

Jo x

 

[Tusharpal]

Dear All

How can i get the ISO/TS 16949 retention guideline for Documents can any body help me pls or if any body has a copy will u share pls

Regards

Tushar .