1.1 General This European standard provides requirements and guidance for the retention, storage, retrieval and disposal of records for the international aviation, space and defense industry. 1.2 Applicability 1 This standard is applicable to all documents and data records, on current and earlier products, produced using current and previous business agreements and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements. 2 Documents should be interpreted in the broadest possible sense to include all records, data and information, in paper or in electronic form or on film, including external providers working on own behalf. 3 Some documents may be retained electronically. The form in which documents are to be retained varies from one jurisdiction to another and varies depending on the document involved. Some countries prescribe that certain documents be retained in their original form as a hardcopy (e.g. board minutes, documents under seal, trust documents and original documents that are subject to specific legal requirements& ).