Election Investigations Guidebook kinds of records should be retained? How long should these documents be kept? Who will have access to them? To resolve these questions, it is critical for an election investigation body to adhere to a comprehensive document retention and records management policy. Legislations or regulations often address these requirements. Regardless of the approach adopted, investigators must abide by the relevant laws and regulations and states should take proactive steps, such as providing training, to ensure that investigators understand their legal obligations. Costa Rica’s extensive document retention policy, tailored specifically to the electoral context, exemplifies many of the recommended principles and standards for retention and management. To facilitate access to information, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal issued regulations establishing a Central Archive.273 Pursuant to national legislation, it also created an Institutional Committee for the Selection and Deletion of Documents—a team of individuals responsible for populating the archive.274 The Supreme Electoral Tribunal then issued a procedure manual that details the process the committee should use in evaluating and assessing documents and in developing tables of disposition schedules for different types of legal documents.275 Preservation of Records Among other things, the obligation to “keep secure” investigative records necessitates “well-designed storage processes” and a “well-managed environment.”276 The warning issued in Costa Rican regulations of the Central Archive of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal applies equally well to all states: “The place designated for the Central Archive should take into account the conditions necessary to guarantee optimal document preservation, among them: the humidity of the air, the temperature, pollution, light, insects, or similar situations. Additionally, there should be technological measures for extinguishing fires and preventing theft.”277 273 Manual de Procedimientos para la Selección y Eliminación de Documentos [Procedures Manual for the Selection and Deletion of Documents], ch. II, art. 2 (adopted in Sess. No. 44-2010, promulgated by Circ. No. STSE-0032-2010) (2010)(Costa Rica). 274 Id. ch. VIII, art. 13. 275 Id. 276 U.N. Dep’t of Mgmt. Archives & Records Mgmt. Sec., Guideline on Preventing, Detecting and Treating Insect Infestation in Records and Archives Centers (2012), https://archives.un.org/content/our-policies-standards-and-guidelines. 277 Decreto No. 2-95, Reglamento del Archivo Central de Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones [Regulation on the Central Archive of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal], ch. III, art. 5, La Gaceta, Diario Oficial [L.G.] No. 206 (1995)(Costa Rica). 88