Guidelines on best practices for using electronic information
The European Commission has published an updated and enlarged edition of its multidisciplinary "Guidelines on best practices for using electronic information". The guidelines were originally produced for the DLM-Forum on electronic records, organized jointly by the Member States of the European Union and the European Commission in December 1996. This new edition has been revised to incorporate comments and annotations received during the Forum, which brought together experts from industry, research, administration and archives. The objective of the Forum was to address the issues raised by the impact of technological innovations on archival activities - increasingly posing a threat to the authenticity and conservation of vital information. The Guidelines are intended to help define the short and medium-term strategies needed to solve the pressing problems of managing and conserving electronically stored data. Their implementation by decision-makers in industry and administration would go a long way towards increasing the confidence of companies and individuals in the reliability of data stored on the new media.