Section 7

Section 7 is the foundational record-retention provision — it allows digital preservation of documents that various laws require to be kept for specific periods, without maintaining physical paper copies. Three conditions must be met: (a) the records must remain accessible and usable — no format that becomes unreadable after software changes; (b) the format must faithfully represent the original — either the original format itself or a demonstrably accurate conversion such as PDF/A for archiving; and (c) metadata identifying origin, destination, and timestamps must be preserved alongside the record. Condition (c) has a carve-out for automatically generated routing metadata such as server headers added during email transmission — these need not be retained as part of the record. Section 7 enables: companies to maintain their Books of Account digitally under the Companies Act rather than in physical ledgers; banks to retain account statements electronically rather than in paper form; hospitals to maintain patient records in electronic health record systems; and employers to keep employment contracts and payroll records digitally. Section 7(2) makes clear that Section 7 is a default enabling provision — where a specific law explicitly mandates physical retention or expressly specifies electronic retention requirements, those specific requirements prevail over Section 7.