Period of storage and retention of documents
Article 7
1. Documents shall be stored in ELAN for a maximum period of 10 years from either the last day of their validity, or from the day when they were issued, if the relevant Union legislation does not lay down the last day of validity of the document. 2. To maintain the integrity of documents stored in ELAN, relevant data concerning electronic signatures, electronic seals, timestamps and electronic exchanges shall be retained by ELAN and the Member States’ national systems for a maximum period of 10 years starting from end of the storage period indicated in paragraph 1. 3. Personal data from licences, certificates and other documents referred to in Article 4 shall be stored by ELAN and the Member States’ national systems for no more than 10 years from either the last day of validity of the relevant document, or the day when the relevant document was issued, if the relevant Union legislation does not lay down the last day of validity of the document. 4. Where within the 10-year retention period referred to in paragraph 1, an appeal has been lodged or administrative or judicial proceedings have been initiated based on ELAN documents or where ELAN documents constitute a piece of evidence, those documents may be retained until the outcome of the appeal or administrative or judicial proceedings, whichever is the later. For this purpose, the required documents can be retrieved and used in court-proof form by Member States. Once the relevant procedures are finalised and the related judgement or decision is legally binding, Member States shall immediately delete the retrieved documents.