(a) Federal Agency Notification.— The head of each Federal agency shall notify the Archivist of any actual, impending, or threatened unlawful removal, defacing, alteration, corruption, deletion, erasure, or other destruction of records in the custody of the agency, and with the assistance of the Archivist shall initiate action through the Attorney General for the recovery of records the head of the Federal agency knows or has reason to believe have been unlawfully removed from that agency, or from another Federal agency whose records have been transferred to the legal custody of that Federal agency. (b) Archivist Notification.— In any case in which the head of a Federal agency does not initiate an action for such recovery or other redress within a reasonable period of time after being notified of any such unlawful action described in subsection (a), or is participating in, or believed to be participating in any such unlawful action, the Archivist shall request the Attorney General to initiate such an action, and shall notify the Congress when such a request has been made. ( Pub. L. 90–620 , Oct. 22, 1968 , 82 Stat. 1298 ; Pub. L. 98–497, title I, § 107(b)(21) , title II, § 203(b), Oct. 19, 1984 , 98 Stat. 2290 , 2294; Pub. L. 113–187, § 4 , Nov. 26, 2014 , 128 Stat. 2009 .) Historical and Revision Notes Based on 44 U.S. C ode, 1964 ed., § 396(f) (June 30, 1949, ch. 288, title V, § 506(f), as added Sept. 5, 1950, ch. 849, § 6(d), 64 Stat. 583 ). Editorial Notes Amendments 2014— Pub. L. 113–187 amended section generally. Prior to amendment, text read as follows: “The head of each Federal agency shall notify the Archivist of any actual, impending, or threatened unlawful removal, defacing, alteration, or destruction of records in the custody of the agency of which he is the head that shall come to his attention, and with the assistance of the Archivist shall initiate action through the Attorney General for the recovery of records he knows or has reason to believe have been unlawfully removed from his agency, or from another Federal agency whose records have been transferred to his legal custody. In any case in which the head of the agency does not initiate an action for such recovery or other redress within a reasonable period of time after being notified of any such unlawful action, the Archivist shall request the Attorney General to initiate such an action, and shall notify the Congress when such a request has been made.” 1984— Pub. L. 98–497, § 107(b)(21) , substituted “Archivist” for “Administrator of General Services” and “Archivist” for “Administrator”. Pub. L. 98–497, § 203(b) , inserted at end “In any case in which the head of the agency does not initiate an action for such recovery or other redress within a reasonable period of time after being notified of any such unlawful action, the Archivist shall request the Attorney General to initiate such an action, and shall notify the Congress when such a request has been made.” Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries Effective Date of 1984 Amendment Amendment by Pub. L. 98–497 effective Apr. 1, 1985 , see section 301 of Pub. L. 98–497 , set out as a note under section 2102 of this title . CFR Title Parts 5 1320 , 2417 , 2608 10 1707 , 1708 12 1070 25 15 36 1220 , 1230 , 1239