The law mandates that companies archive business emails to comply with regulations. Failure to do so can result in legal penalties and fines. Here’s a breakdown of the laws regarding email archiving that companies should be aware of:
Title V, Rule 26 was amended in December 2006 to require companies to maintain electronically stored information (ESI), including archived emails. These regulations stipulate that organizations must be able to search and retrieve archived emails when needed for legal proceedings.
The length of time emails must be stored varies by state and industry. Some sectors, such as healthcare, financial, and public companies, require emails to be retained for seven years. The government and education industries mandate a three-year retention period, while credit card companies only need to store email data for one year.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) also imposes email archiving requirements for companies collecting and processing data from EU clients. Compliance with GDPR regulations, including data archiving, access, and retrieval, is mandatory. Companies must also respond to requests from EU citizens to access their data within 30 days.
To comply with email archiving requirements, organizations should implement an email retention policy (ERP) outlining how long archived emails should be kept before deletion. Factors to consider when developing an ERP include regulatory compliance, legal discovery, and retention timespans.
Email archiving solutions capture and index emails, making them searchable and retrievable. These solutions can be cloud-based, on-premise hardware, or hybrid, depending on the company’s needs. It’s crucial to choose a secure and tamper-proof solution to maintain data integrity and protect against threats.
In conclusion, compliance with email archiving regulations is essential to avoid penalties and fines. Implementing an effective email retention policy and using reliable email archiving solutions can help companies achieve compliance and protect against data loss.
