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Before destroying public records under the Virginia Public Records Act, you must confirm all of the following:

• The record appears on a records retention and disposition schedule approved pursuant to § 42.1-82 and the record's retention period has expired;
• A certificate of records destruction, as designated by the Librarian of Virginia, has been properly completed and approved by the agency's designated records officer; and
• There is no litigation, audit, investigation, request for records pursuant to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (§ 2.2-3700 et seq.), or renegotiation of the relevant records retention and disposition schedule pending at the expiration of the retention period for the applicable records series.

Follow these steps for approved destruction:

• Review the disposition instructions for the records on the Records Retention and Disposition Schedules
• If you do not have an official hold notice for litigation, audit, investigation, freedom of information act request, or other official hold, then you may destroy the records. You must clear any holds with the office placing the hold before destroying. You may contact the University Record Manager to confirm any known holds on records at records@odu.edu.
• Contact the Records Manager at records@odu.edu to complete a Certificate of Records Destruction (RM3)
• You may not destroy records until you have received an approval to destroy from the University Records Officer. Once you receive approval to destroy (either via email or the return of an approval form - signed on Line 8 by the Records Officer) you may destroy the records. The person handling the destruction will sign on Line 9 of the form after the records are destroyed. If you use UVA Recycling, please have them sign on Line 9 when they pick up the records. After destruction, you must send the form with original signatures to Information Technology Services, University Records Manager. The Records Management Office will submit the final form to the Library of Virginia in accordance with the Virginia Public Records Act.
• The University Records Manager is the official record keeper for all Certificate of Records Destruction (RM3) Forms. All copies in departments and offices are reference/convenience copies and can be destroyed without approval and at will.