Electronic Communications Policy
E-mail archiving company Fortiva has a nifty tool for building your own customized Electronic Communications Policy at their site here.
You have to register to use it, but I think the policy you get is worth it. The policy can be customized with your company or organization name and specific sections can be added or removed. When you’re ready you can convert it to a PDF complete with your corporate or organization logo.
Here’s an exerpt of the policy I created:
Email Record Retention
Default Retention Policy for Archived Email
[Company Name] treats electronic communications as a business record. Business records are subject to federal and state/provincial laws as well as [Company Name] records management policies. This section is not intended to replace existing record retention policies and procedures but to enable its enforcement using an automated archiving solution that matches the classification and retention schedule outlined in the [Company Name] Record Retention handbook.
As required by applicable regulation, [Company Name] maintains a system that makes a long-term record of emails received and sent through the [Company Name] network. Any email received or sent is subject to review by the regulatory authorities. These records are created as a matter of regulatory compliance and are not to be used for ordinary operational purposes and are not a substitute for ordinary daily management of email.
The Fortiva policy is designed to help organizations comply with new Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP).
Check it out!