La norme NF Z42-013 is the French reference standard for electronic archiving, first published in 1999 by AFNOR and regularly updated (in 2009 and 2020, in particular). It defines the main requirements for ensuring the secure preservation, integrity, and evidential value of digital documents stored in an Electronic Archiving System (EAS).
Today, it is also recognized internationally through the ISO 14641-1 standard.
Key Principles of NF Z42-013
The standard is built around several core principles that guide the design, operation, and management of an EAS:
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Authenticity
The EAS must ensure that each archived document is truly what it claims to be, allowing for clear identification of its origin, author, and creation date. This involves managing electronic signatures and authenticity certificates. -
Integrity
Once archived, a document must not be altered. Integrity is guaranteed through technical mechanisms (such as digital fingerprints, sealing, and logging) that detect any modification and prove that the document has remained unchanged since its deposit. -
Durability (Permanence)
The EAS must guarantee the preservation of documents for the legally required duration, ensuring their readability and accessibility despite technological changes (formats, media, software). -
Traceability
Every operation performed on documents such as ingestion, access, consultation, metadata updates, and deletion must be logged and reviewable. Traceability is essential to reconstruct the complete lifecycle of a document. -
Security
The system must ensure document confidentiality, protect against unauthorized access, data loss, and cyberattacks, and guarantee the availability of archived materials. -
Interoperability and Reversibility
The standard requires that the EAS support the exchange, retrieval, and migration of documents and their metadata, especially in case of a change of provider or platform. This prevents technological lock-in.
Organization and Scope
The 2020 version of the standard structures its requirements into three main categories:
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Functional: Expected EAS features (ingestion, preservation, access, deletion, etc.)
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Organizational: Policies, procedures, responsibilities, and access management.
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Infrastructure: Technical security, architecture, availability, and incident management.
The standard is based on the OAIS model (Open Archival Information System), which defines the key functions of an EAS: acquisition, management, storage, administration, preservation planning, and access.
Main Objective
The central goal of la NF Z42-013 is to guarantee the evidential value of archived electronic documents their ability to serve as reliable proof in legal or audit contexts through strict adherence to the principles of authenticity, integrity, durability, traceability, and security.
This standard precisely governs electronic archiving in France to ensure the reliable, secure, and legally valid preservation of digital documents over the long term.
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