Email Archiving

In this digital age, the shift away from paper and toward digital formats has created some confusion when it comes to rules and regulations regarding business email storage. Since these are virtual documents, companies can easily make the mistake of underestimating their importance and deleting them simply because they presume they aren't needed anymore. But doing so can lead to hefty fines (millions of dollars) or even criminal proceedings, as professional emails with commercial and/or legal content are considered, for all intents and purposes, documents that need to be stored carefully for a certain period of time.

There are regulations put into place that require all businesses to keep electronic records of business data, including emails. These email archiving laws in Canada require businesses to keep copies of emails for a specific time period. These retention laws include laws that apply to all businesses and organizations and data retention laws that only apply to specific industries. Examples of email retention laws that businesses must comply with include the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and the Canadian Sarbanes-Oxley Act (C-SOX). These laws require data to be properly archived so that it can be easily searched through if needed. Email archiving isn't just for convenience – it's a legal necessity. Using adequate archiving methods for storing digital documents ensures that business emails are properly preserved in full compliance with the regulations regarding quality, integrity, security, privacy and inalterability. Therefore, email archiving tools are optimal solutions that make it easier to comply with legal archiving requirements and at the same time keep all digital documentation safe.

In principle, archiving emails of a commercial and/or legal nature is a task for all businesses in Canada, without exception. Depending on the industry, some companies need to adhere to more email retention policies than others. Publicly traded companies, for instance, need to comply with the Canadian Sarbanes-Oxley Act. It's of utmost importance to check which regulations are important for your particular company.

The length of time an email needs to be kept for depends on the email retention law. The fifth privacy principle of PIPEDA (Limiting Use, Disclosure, and Retention) states that an organization should implement minimum and maximum retention periods for personal information and should only retain this information for as long as it is required to fulfill its intended purposes. Even if you're sure that your company is adhering to email retention policies, it's still a good idea to check with your legal representative to make sure your business is doing everything correctly.

The ability to access and recover data is important for companies of all sizes. Your company can either rely on data backups or archiving, but what is the difference between the two? You need to find the best method of email retention for your company.

A backup is a copy of data, which can be used to restore the original in case your data is lost or damaged. Data loss can happen due to hardware failure, human error, or a natural disaster – saving your data with an email backup means you're prepared for these worst-case scenarios.

An archive is a collection of records that is stored long-term and can be accessed in the future if a certain piece of information is needed. Since archives usually contain data that isn't currently being used, it frees up space elsewhere, easing the burden on faster and more frequently accessed data storage systems. In other words, an archive holds original data that has been removed from its original location.

With the right software, you can manage legally compliant and audit-proof email archiving. If desired, you can add the email archive module to the IONOS Mail Basic and Mail Business packages and to all other IONOS products that include an email address such as web hosting and domain packages. Email archiving works whether you use IONOS Webmail or another email client such as Outlook. All emails are securely backed up, professionally archived with tamper-proof envelope journaling, and are searchable, discoverable and accessible in the event of a legal motion or audit.