The following words and terms, when used in these sections, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Terms not defined in these sections shall have the meanings defined in the Government Code, §§441.031-441.039 and §§441.051-441.062.

1. (1) Agency--A state executive, educational, judicial, legislative, or eleemosynary department, institution, board, or commission.
2. (2) Archival value--The determination in appraising the value of state records that they have historical value and are worthy of preservation by an archive.
3. (3) Certification--The process, inclusive of recertification, by which a records retention schedule or amendments to a schedule are approved by the Texas State Library for use by an agency during a certification period.
4. (4) Certification period--The period of time during which a records retention schedule, including certified amendments to the schedule, may be used by an agency in the final disposition of state records without additional authorization from the Texas State Library.
5. (5) Component--A division, department, program, or other subdivision of an agency.
6. (6) Director--The director of the State and Local Records Management Division of the Texas State Library.
7. (7) Essential records--Records that are necessary to resume or continue a state agency's business; to recreate its legal and financial status; and to preserve the rights of the agency, its employees, and its clients.
8. (8) Final disposition--Final processing of state records by either destruction or archival preservation.
9. (9) Records administrator--The head of an agency or the person appointed by the head of an agency to act as the agency's representative in all issues of records management policy, responsibility, and statutory compliance pursuant to the Government Code, §441.037.
10. (10) Records retention schedule--A document prepared in accordance with §6.2 of this title (relating to Submission of Records Retention Schedules for Certification).
11. (11) Records series--A group of identical or related records that are normally used and/or filed together, and that permit evaluation as a group for retention scheduling purposes.
12. (12) Retention period--The period of time during which state records must be maintained before final disposition.
13. (13) State record--Any written, photographic, machine-readable, or other recorded information created or received by a state agency that documents its activities in the conduct of state business or use of public resources. The term does not include library or museum material made or acquired and preserved solely for reference or exhibition purposes, an extra copy of recorded information preserved only for reference, or a stock of publications or blank forms.
14. (14) Texas State Records Retention Schedule--Figure 1 of §6.10 of this title (relating to Texas State Records Retention Schedule).
15. (15) Vital records--Essential records.

Source Note:The provisions of this §6.1 adopted to be effective October 24, 1994, 19 TexReg 8108.