Physical archive or electronic archive: which do you choose?
The choice does not change the legal retention periods: it only changes cost, search time and the risk of loss.
Răspuns scurt
- Legal retention periods are identical in both cases.
- A physical archive costs space and search time; an electronic archive costs indexing up front.
- For most companies the practical solution is mixed: current documents electronic, those with an original-on-paper obligation kept in storage.
- The move to electronic starts with the records retention schedule, not with the scanner.
What the law says (in brief)
- Law 16/1996: the obligations fall on the document creator, regardless of the medium chosen.
- Law 135/2007 sets the conditions under which a document kept in electronic form has its own regime.
- Law 82/1991 and OMFP Order 2634/2015: the periods for financial-accounting documents do not change when digitized.
- Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Art. 5(1)(e): personal data is removed when the period expires, in either archive format.
Comparison on practical criteria
| Criterion | Physical archive | Electronic archive |
|---|---|---|
| Space used | roughly 10 binders per shelf-meter | no physical space |
| Search time | minutes to hours | seconds, with OCR |
| Backup | hard to achieve | automatic, in two locations |
| Remote access | no | yes, limited by role |
| Main cost | storage and handling | indexing and OCR up front |
Practical examples
- A company with 25 employees scans the last three years' archive, about 18,000 pages, and gives up two storage cabinets.
- A file requested during an inspection is found in 10 seconds, versus 20–30 minutes of searching in storage.
- Payroll records, with a 50-year period, are kept electronically, with a backup in two different locations.
- A company renting storage at 400 lei a month recovers the cost of digitization in about two years.
Common mistakes
- Everything is scanned, including documents whose retention period has already expired.
- The paper is destroyed before checking whether the original is mandatory for that type of document.
- The records schedule is not drawn up before scanning, and the digital archive becomes just as chaotic as the physical one.
- There is no backup: a single disk means a single point of failure.
- Digitization happens without OCR, losing exactly the main advantage.
How 4docs helps
- Bulk import of the old archive, with OCR applied automatically.
- Records schedule and inventory generated from the structure by fund and document type.
- Retention periods and expiry alerts for every category.
- Remote access, limited by role, and expiring links for third parties.