http://www.genuine-group.com/articles/ Articles at Genuine Group - Our Articles en-us http://www.genuine-group.com/articles/records-retention/on-the-point-of-religious-influence-and-cultural-difference-on-records-management.html http://www.genuine-group.com/articles/records-retention/on-the-point-of-religious-influence-and-cultural-difference-on-records-management.html Sun, 29 Mar 2009 20:05:06 +0100 RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES

Application of Sharia principles in Middle Eastern and North African nations, the principle of Sharia'a on negligence, evidence, laws of contract (Mu'amalat) and corporate structures such as Ijara contracts, Muraba, Musharafa contracts etc have rules regarding the types of objects that can be traded in like items of haram i.e. trading in alcohol, pork etc are not accepted so records on them are restricted.

For records pertaining to women, the Sharia especially Wahhabi practices in Saudi Arabia are strict on what can be disclosed to the public pertaining to women, or public access to government personal records. Medical records or inheritance records cannot be accessed or stored without permission of a wali (guardian) etc. These records are protected by legal privilege and principles of Sharia on privacy and they differ from common law principles.

On issues of employment law, things like sexual harassment in an Islamic state is slim because of segregation laws and where men and women work, the Islamic laws of evidence on witnesses affect how records retention policies on discrimination and sexual harassment claims are recorded. The "right to know" ideology is restricted in Islamic environments.

Issues on collective bargaining for example differ in Saudi Arabia and Japan based on how their corporate governance policy records work. So the norm in the UK with picketing, challenging authority etc doesn't exist in such jurisdictions.

On issues of HR for example, in Islamic nations again because of segregation laws, interview and hiring of females is strictly by female heads of department and records that can be kept pertaining to married women are strict and cannot be accessed by just anyone. Retention policies and viewing policies differ from the western conventional style.

CULTURE DIFFERENCES

In African nations, because of the huge reliance on paper evidence and paper based record, retention policies and period are different than those of 1st world nations. Records tend to be either kept for a longer period or a much shorter period the latter due in the main to storage issues.

In certain African nations, principles of customary law affect the type and length of which records may be retained. ]]>