The Crimes (Document Destruction) Act 2006 and the associated Evidence (Document Unavailability) Act 2006 create formal and specific penalties for the destruction of documents that are known to be reasonably likely to be required in evidence, where the destruction is intended to prevent the documents from coming into court. The Crimes (Document Destruction) Act 2006 is created as an amendment to Victoria 's Crimes Act 1958 . The Document Destruction provisions insert a new division 5 into part 1 of the Crimes Act.

The purpose of the Crimes (Document Destruction) Act 2006 is to create a new offence relating to the destruction of a document or other object that is reasonably likely to be required in evidence in a legal proceeding.

It is important to note that the Crimes (Document Destruction) Act 2006 creates this offence in situations where no litigation is actually commenced (it has always been illegal to destroy evidence once a case has actually been launched). This covers circumstances where an individual or organisation destroys documents that may at some future time be needed in evidence, and where this need can be and has been anticipated.

Victorian Government agencies, as with other organisations, must be aware of the extent and implications of the legislation.

Agencies must be aware that while the Act does not criminalise normal records disposal (including disposal authorised under a relevant PROV RDA), it will not be possible to use an RDA to legalise or justify the destruction of documents or records where that destruction meets all the criteria for the offence.

In response, PROV has developed a new recordkeeping advisory, Advice to Agencies 18: Crimes (Document Destruction) Act 2006, (PDF, 604 KB) which is available with other PROV advice about government recordkeeping on our Standards and Advice page.

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