The Administrative Functions Disposal Authority, also known as AFDA, authorises the disposal of records of administrative functions commonly performed by most Australian Government agencies.

This disposal authority allows agencies to destroy a range of source records that are no longer needed once they have been copied, converted or migrated, provided equivalent reproductions are maintained and there are no special requirements to retain the source records. It also sets conditions for the proper management of copying, conversion and migration processes, the reproductions that are generated through those processes, and the source records themselves. The General Disposal Authority for source records both replaces and expands the coverage of GDA 22, which applied only to records of short-term value that had been copied.

This disposal authority allows and sets conditions for the disposal of encrypted records created during online security processes. It includes encrypted versions of inbound and outbound electronic transactions.

This disposal authority covers records relating to the collection, interpretation and analysis, and distribution of intelligence material related to the security of Australia and Australians. It can be used by any Australian Government agency and covers records created by or received by the Australian Government from domestic or foreign sources.

This disposal authority relates to the Commonwealth of Australia versus Cockatoo Island Dockyard arbitration proceedings. This authority is an exception to the general coverage of the other GDAs as it only relates to specific agencies concerned with the case.

The provisions of this Authority are consistent with the requirements of the Data Matching Program (Assistance and Tax) Act 1990 and the voluntary guidelines issued by the Privacy Commission on the use of data matching in the Commonwealth.

Authorising the transfer of custody or ownership of records to contractors providing services on behalf of or to government under outsourcing arrangements

This disposal authority covers the transfer of custody and ownership of records to contractors providing services on behalf of, or to, government under outsourcing arrangements. The authority is included in Records Issues for Outsourcing which provides guidelines for agencies about their responsibilities for records management when employing contractors.