A primary consideration affecting an organisations decision to image documents and dispose of the originals is the evidential weight of the images. To faciliate easy retrieval and mitigate the potential degradation of evidential weight, sometimes documents are imaged and then the originals are kept in deep storage. Most government departments accept images just as they would accept faxes or photocopies and the courts are catching up too.

This following statement was made by Companies House and relates to the way in which their information may be used as evidence.

“If a document is admissible in evidence, then an electronic image of that document may be treated as secondary evidence in the same manner as a photocopy or a microfiche image. It will be subject to the provisions regarding authentication contained in the Civil Evidence Act (1995) in England and Wales and the Civil Evidence Act (Scotland) 1988 in Scotland.”

The British Standards Institution has issued a revised Code of Practice for Legal Admissibility of Information Stored on Electronic Document Management Systems, BIP 0008:2004 (previously PD 0008). This code of practice provides guidance to ensure, as far as possible, that electronic documents and scanned images will be accepted as evidence by the courts. The key to this guidance is that the process under which documents are managed is as important as the technology used – where a document is reproduced (e.g. printed), it should accurately reproduce the contents of the "original".

The key principles behind BIP 0008 are:

1. Authenticity – Processes to be followed at system planning, implementation and the procedures by which the systems should be operated.  
2. Storage and access procedures – Procedures including scanning, indexing, retrieval, system administration, archiving, off-site storage and training, to be followed.  
3. Demonstrability of adherence – A structured audit process resulting in a Certificate of Conformity that displays demonstrability of adherence. 

The Civil Evidence Act (1995) introduces a flexible system whereby all documents and copy documents, including computer records, can be admitted as evidence in civil proceedings. The court judge still has the responsibility of assessing the 'weighting' to give the document (or image) thus organisations must put in place procedures to prove the authenticity and reliability of the record.

As a standard part of all its imaging procedures Ndata ensures that BIP 0008 is followed completely and, equally importantly, helps clients to ensure their own internal procedures also conform to the standard.

A copy of BIP 0008:2004 can be obtained through BSI.