The Archives and Records Management Section can provide assistance and guidance to United Nations offices and arrange for the transfer of records to off-site storage. In consultation with records originating offices, ARMS appraises unscheduled records for disposal/destruction, long-term retention, or permanent retention as archives.

For full details of the services available see: Records Transfer
ARMS assists with the transfer of inactive records, typically files over three years old, to secondary storage in the ARMS facility in Queens. Once the records have been transferred  they can be made available to authorized Secretariat personnel as required through the Internal Service Request service.

ARMS describes and catalogues those transferred records which have archival importance. The information is then used to provide guides for researchers.

The records transfer process involves a series of steps as follows:

Step 1 : Acquire boxes
Step 2 : Access the transfer forms
Step 3 : Prepare your records for transfer
Step 4 : Sort out your record series
Step 5 : Pack your boxes
Step 6 : Label your boxes
Step 7 : Complete Form RMS 36A Records Transfer - List of files
Step 8 : Complete Form RMS 34 Request for Transfer of Records
Step 9 : Submit the completed forms to ARMS for confirmation to transfer
Step 10 : Transfer boxes to ARMS

For detailed information on how to transfer records to ARMS, and which transfer forms to use, please click here for the How Do I Transfer Records Guideline. There are also detailed instructions in the Recordkeeping Toolkit for Peacekeeping Missions.

Records Disposal/Destruction
ARMS offers a secure and accountable records destruction service for United Nations offices. Whether records are in the custody of the originating office and/or in the custody of the ARMS, most records eventually are destroyed. Some records are destroyed after 2 to 5 years, while others, such as personnel or medical records are retained for a much longer period. A small volume of records are kept permanently because of historical or informational value.

Records retention periods are authorized either in records retention schedules, or through agreement between ARMS and the originating office. Such agreement normally occurs when the records are transferred to ARMS. Offices can also request revision of established agreements by means of a request for Records Disposition Authorization - Form RMS.49 (3-99).

For more detailed information, please consult the ARMS Guideline Principles of Records Destruction. The Guideline contains a practical checklist to ensure records destruction of paper records is carried out in an accountable manner.

You can contact ARMS by telephone (212) 963-8688 or 963-8689 or by e-mail for advice and assistance with records destruction.