Over the past few years, there have been amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) that affect how organization store, manage and retrieve electronic data, such as email. In many cases, these laws correlate to federal and state government transparency or "Sunshine" laws.

What do the FRCP amendments mean?

The amendments, mandate that private and public organizations be prepared for electronic discovery during law suits. The organization must know where their data is, how to retrieve it, how to meet data requests, and determine what data will not be subject to search.

What types of organizations are impacted?

Any organization in any industry that has the potential of being involved in litigation in the U.S. Federal Court system. This includes not only private companies, but also federal, state and local government.

When did the amendments take effect?

The amendments went into effect on December 1, 2006.

What happens if an organization is not prepared or in compliance?

Organizations that do not have an automated system in place to help them effectively store, search and retrieve email data in real-time face utilizing countless staff hours or paying high costs for "rush job" discovery requests. In some instances, failure to produce the requested data in a timely fashion may even lead to the loss of a lawsuit.