Principle 2: Thorough Investigation • An organization should have reasonable policies and procedures for managing its information and records. • An organization’s information and records management policies and procedures should be realistic, practical and tailored to the circumstances of the organization. • An organization need not retain all electronic information ever generated or received. • An organization adopting an information and records management policy should also develop procedures that address the creation, identification, retention, retrieval and ultimate disposition or destruction of information and records. • An organization’s policies and procedures must mandate the suspension of ordinary destruction practices and procedures as necessary to comply with preservation obligations related to actual or reasonably anticipated litigation, government investigation or audit. From the Sedona Guidelines (2007) document retention, and records management demonstrate a commitment to accountability and transparency, increasing citizen trust in the legitimacy of the electoral dispute resolution process. While there is no binding international law on document retention and records management, several international organizations have developed a set of voluntary standards and guidelines that have increasingly been accepted by most countries. These international guidelines are “comprehensive in scope, but general in nature,” as “they are not addressed to a specific situation, industry, country, or organization.”258 Because they are intended to apply in a wide range of circumstances, these standards can be extended to the election investigations context.259 Even in countries in which the election investigation body has little or no control over the development of its own records management policy, these international guidelines emphasize the duty to comply 258 Id. at 3. 259 Cf. id. (“The Principles are intended to set forth the characteristics of an effective information governance program, while allowing flexibility based upon the unique circumstances of an organization’s size, sophistication, legal environment, and resources.”). 85