2003-004
Research Ethics Board Minutes, Agendas and Supporting Papers
Research Ethics, Office of
| Records | Active retention (in office) | Semi-active (records centre) | Total retention | Final disposition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OPR Files (Paper) | CY + 2 years | 3 years | CY + 5 years | Selective Retention by Archives |
| OPR Files (Electronic) | S/O | Nil | S/O | Destruction |
| Non-OPR Copies (held by members of the REB other than the Secretariat) (Paper & Electronic) | CY or when no longer needed for reference | Nil | CY or when no longer needed for reference | Destruction |
CY = Current calendar year; CFY = Current fiscal year; CS = Current semester; S/O = Superseded or obsolete; OPR = Office of Primary Responsibility; Non-OPR = All other departments.
Records made or received in support of the activities and deliberations of the Research Ethics Board (REB).
Records may include minutes, agendas, supporting papers, meeting schedules, membership lists, correspondence, policies and procedures, reports and studies, and reference and information material.
The Research Ethics Board is a committee of Senate. It is responsible for the timely review of all research protocols or projects involving human subjects; monitoring of on-going human research; responding to inquiries from external agencies with responsibility to monitor ethics review procedures at universities; and educating the SFU research community about the principles and practices of the ethical conduct of research (see SFU Policy R20.01 for a more detailed delineation of the REB's sphere of functional responsibility). The Director of the Office of Research Ethics (DORE) acts as the Board Secretariat and maintains the official records of the REB in the Office of Research Ethics (ORE).
These records are created, used, retained and managed in accordance with the following authorities:
The FOI / POP Act (RSBC 1996, c. 165, s. 31) requires that personal information used to make a decision that directly affects an individual must be retained for at least one year. The review and approval of ethics applications are documented in the REB minutes, agendas and supporting papers and, therefore, must be retained for a minimum of one year. In addition, the total recommended retention period (CY + 5 years) is sufficient to met the reference needs of the ORE and REB (the records document the activities and deliberations of the REB and as such act as a valuable reference or memory resource of past action).
The DORE acts as Secretariat to the REB. The file classification plan developed for the ORE during the winter semester 2003 provides guidance of how these records should be coded and maintained.
At the end of the active retention period (CY + 2 years), box and transfer the paper files to the University Records Centre (URC). Exceptions are noted in the file plan. In particular, meeting schedules and reference and information files need not be boxed and transferred to the University Records Centre (URC) at this time. Instead, ORE staff should oversee their destruction by contacting Facilities Management and arranging for their confidential shredding.
For each box transferred to the URC prepare a box contents listing, itemizing all files contained in the box. Always include ONE copy of the file list inside the box sent to the URC taped to the underside of the lid; keep ONE copy for your own records; and send ONE copy (paper or electronic) to the Archives (see Procedures for Transferring Records to the University Records Centre).
ORE staff should also create a folder directory structure on their desktop computers that mimics the secondaries relating to REB minutes, agendas and supporting papers in the ORE file classification plan. Store electronic versions in the applicable categories. Treat the electronic versions as working documents and delete/destroy them when the records are S/O. See RRSDA 1999-061, Transitory Records.
RRSDA is in force.
Approved by the University Archivist: 29 May 2003