Disposition Authority
The formal approval that authorizes the disposition of a records series — the legal basis permitting records to be destroyed or transferred when their retention period ends.
A disposition authority is the formal approval that permits records to be disposed of — destroyed or transferred — once their retention period ends. It is the legal basis behind each line of a retention schedule: without an authority, disposing of records (especially government records) is not permitted.
In the U.S. federal government, disposition authorities come from the Archivist of the United States (NARA) — either through the government-wide General Records Schedule or through agency-specific schedules NARA approves. Destroying federal records without an approved disposition authority is unlawful. In the private sector, the equivalent is documented, approved retention rules grounded in legal and business requirements. Disposition authority is what makes defensible disposition authorized — the documented permission that lets an organization prove its destruction of records was proper.