Why different durations per data type?

Because the law requires it and because that is professional practice. Accounting records must be kept ten years (French Commercial Code art. L.123-22), payslips five years, prospecting files three years, and intellectual heritage falls under a free decision. A single duration would force either over-retention (cost) or under-retention (illegality).

What happens when a stratum reaches its term?

Three months before a stratum's deadline, the named successors are notified. They decide — under the agreed voting rule — between extension, deletion or transfer. The decision is taken stratum by stratum: accounting can be deleted at ten years while intellectual heritage is extended for a new period.

Who can consult the archives during conservation?

Only the grantees nominally designated in the contract. The consultation register is kept continuously: who consulted, when, which item, in what context (tax audit, dispute, GDPR request from a third party, etc.). No consultation is silent.

Can data be retrieved during conservation?

Yes. Grantees can request partial or full retrieval at any time. The request goes through the secure channel, is logged, and — for multi-decision-maker structures — may require a vote under the agreed rule. Retrieval is included in the standard pricing grid.

Step 7 · Switch over

Conservation contracted by stratum

The migration is over, the record is signed, your archives are in place. Conservation then enters its contractual regime: differentiated durations per data type, named access grants, logged register, scheduled arbitration at every deadline. This is the longest phase — often ten years.

Why a per-stratum regime

Not all archives carry the same value or the same legal constraint. Keeping commercial prospecting files for ten years would be GDPR-illegal; destroying accounting records before ten years would breach the French Commercial Code. Between those, every category has its own rule. The contract therefore provides for conservation strata, each with its own duration, its own set of grantees, its own default scenario at term.

That granularity is precious for successors. It lets them decide category by category at final arbitration — delete what has become useless, extend what carries historical or patrimonial value, transfer to Archivum what they no longer wish to carry. An "all or nothing" approach would deprive successors of that lever.

Strata and typical durations

Accounting records — 10 years. Balance sheets, accounts, ledgers, invoices, quotes, entries. Mandatory under French Commercial Code art. L. 123-22. This duration is not negotiable downward.
HR documents — 5 years on average. Payslips (5 years), employment contracts (5 years after end), staff registers (5 years after departure), occupational risk documents. For serious workplace accidents, retention can extend to 30 years to preserve employee rights.
Customer and prospecting data — 3 years. In line with French data protection authority recommendations: three years after last contact for commercial prospecting, duration aligned with specific obligations for active customer accounts at the moment of cessation.
Intellectual property and editorial heritage — free duration. Source code, published articles, media, trademarks, designs and models. No statutory maximum; the duration is chosen by successors based on patrimonial value.
Inbound mail in inbound-only mode — duration aligned with related obligations. If the mailbox serves to receive accounting follow-ups, duration aligns with the 10-year accounting retention. If it serves commercial solicitations, duration is shorter.

Daily life during conservation

During conservation, you have nothing to do. No security updates, no certificate renewals, no infrastructure management. Archivum runs the operational maintenance, the periodic integrity checks of fingerprints, the monitoring of access, the enforcement of planned durations.

You (or more precisely the grantees designated in the contract) only step in in three cases: to answer an external request (tax audit, dispute, GDPR request from a former client), to add or modify an access grant by addendum, or to respond to a deadline notification in the three months preceding the end of a stratum.

The consultation register is kept continuously. At any moment, a grantee can request a register extract concerning their own consultations or — under the agreed rule — those of the other grantees. It is a mechanic of mutual transparency that defuses suspicion and conflict.

Notifications and events

Archivum sends automatic notifications on three event types:

Three months before each stratum deadline — this is the trigger for end-of-period arbitration.
On every consultation by a grantee. Depending on your contract choice: immediate notice to all grantees, or consolidated monthly notice.
On exceptional event — request from a third party (administration, court, former client), unauthorised access attempt, detection of an integrity anomaly. The notice is immediate in all cases.

Scope your retention durations

The per-stratum split is the heart of the contract. Initial scoping validates the durations applicable to your situation.

Book a scoping call See all steps