Event scope
SCOPEName the decisions, approvals, tool calls, data access events, configuration changes, and administrative actions covered by the policy.
Policy template / v1.1
Decide what your AI audit trail keeps, why, and for how long.
A working policy template for event scope, retention periods, legal holds, integrity checks, access control, verified deletion, and evidence exports.
- Format
- Editable Markdown
- Release
- v1.1 / Jul 16, 2026
- Access
- Free / no email
General information and a drafting aid. Legal, privacy, and records-management review remains required.
Control record / retention
Audit log retention policy
- Version
- 1.1
- Owner
- Risk operations
- Review
- Annual
Retention register
Sample entries
High-risk AI logs6+ months
Decision records7 years*
Tool and data access24 months*
Legal holdUntil release
* Illustrative period. Replace it with a documented requirement and approved purpose.
Integrity / access / disposal / export
K
Regulatory baseline
Start with the obligation. Record the basis for every period.
The template separates the minimum baseline from the longer periods that may come from sector rules, contracts, disputes, or an approved operational purpose.
EU AI Act
Articles 19(1) and 26(6)
High-risk AI system logs
Providers and deployers keep automatically generated logs under their control for a period appropriate to the system’s intended purpose, with a minimum of six months unless applicable Union or national law provides otherwise.
GDPR
Article 5(1)(e)
Storage limitation
Personal data remains identifiable only for as long as the processing purpose requires. The schedule should document necessity, minimization, deletion, and any valid exception.
Your context
Sector / country / contract
Additional retention requirements
Sector rules, national law, contractual commitments, investigations, and legal holds can change the applicable period. The retention register captures the exact source, owner, trigger, and review date for each decision.
Seven years appears only as an editable example. Every selected period needs a documented legal, regulatory, contractual, or operational basis.
Policy coverage
Six decisions make the policy operational.
Each section closes a gap that reviewers commonly find between a written retention statement and the systems expected to enforce it.
Retention clock
CLOCKDefine when each period starts: event time, case closure, incident closure, contract end, or release of a legal hold.
Period and basis
BASISRecord the selected period beside its legal, regulatory, contractual, or approved operational basis.
Exceptions and holds
HOLDSpecify who can suspend deletion, how the affected scope is identified, and what releases the hold.
Verified disposal
DISPOSEDefine the deletion method, approval path, retry behavior, and the evidence produced after disposal.
Integrity and export
PROVEDocument append-only storage, integrity checks, access controls, export contents, and independent verification steps.
Working register
Put the decision beside the evidence it must produce.
This example shows the level of specificity the downloadable template asks for. Replace every sample period and basis with your approved requirements.
| Event class | Clock starts | Period | Basis | Disposal evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High-risk AI system logs | Event recorded | At least 6 months | EU AI Act Articles 19(1) and 26(6) | Deletion run and exception report |
| Decisions and approvals | Decision closed | 7 years - example | Named sectoral, contractual, or internal requirement | Approved deletion report |
| Tool calls and data access | Process run closed | 24 months - example | Incident analysis and accountability purpose | Deletion manifest |
| Operational telemetry | Metric captured | 90 days - example | Service operations purpose | Scheduled job report |
| Records under legal hold | Hold issued | Until release | Approved hold notice | Release approval and disposal report |
Illustrative schedule only. The six-month entry reflects the EU AI Act baseline for relevant high-risk AI system logs. Other periods require context-specific review.
Inside the file
A working document, ready to edit.
Sixteen policy sections, a starter retention register, a control test record, and approval fields. The file stays readable in source control and exports cleanly into your document system.
- Regulatory and contractual requirement inventory
- Event taxonomy and system scope
- Retention, legal hold, and disposal procedures
- Integrity, access, vendor, and export controls
- Evidence register and control test record
audit-log-retention-policy-template.mdExcerpt
## 5) Retention register
| Event class | Clock starts | Period | Basis |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Decision records | Decision closed | [period] | [source] |
| Tool calls | Process run closed | [period] | [purpose] |
For each row, record:
- System owner and data owner
- Personal data fields and minimization controls
- Legal hold behavior
- Deletion method and verification record
- Review date and approving roles
## 10) Legal holds
- Hold authority: [role]
- Scope identification method: [query / case IDs]
- Release approval: [roles]
- Evidence retained: [notice / actions / release / disposal]Implementation
Take the policy through one complete control test.
A signed document establishes the decision. A tested hold, deletion, and export shows that the control operates as written.
- 01
Map the records
Inventory systems, event classes, data fields, owners, storage locations, and downstream copies. Identify which records contain personal or sensitive data.
- 02
Decide and approve
Set the retention trigger and period for each class. Attach the exact source or approved purpose, then route privacy, legal, security, and system-owner review.
- 03
Configure the controls
Implement deletion schedules, legal holds, access boundaries, integrity verification, failure alerts, and vendor obligations.
- 04
Test the evidence
Run a sample hold, release, deletion, and export. Retain the approvals, job reports, exception records, manifest, checksums, and verification result.
KLA evidence flow
Carry the policy into the Audit Trail and Evidence Room.
KLA connects the approved retention decision to runtime records, control checks, and a verifiable export for reviewers.
01
Approved policy
Version, owner, scope, schedule, and exceptions
02
Audit Trail
Access, hold, deletion, and export actions
03
Assurance record
Integrity checks, failed jobs, and remediation
04
Sealed Evidence Bundle
Manifest, checksums, records, and verification result
Questions
Retention policy questions, answered plainly.
Use these answers to frame the first review with legal, privacy, security, records management, and system owners.
How long should we retain AI audit logs?
For relevant high-risk AI systems, EU AI Act Articles 19(1) and 26(6) set a minimum of six months for automatically generated logs under the provider or deployer’s control, unless applicable Union or national law provides otherwise. Your final period must also account for privacy, sector, national, contractual, and legal hold requirements.
What does “tamper-evident” mean for logs?
That unauthorized changes are detectable. Common approaches include append-only storage, hash chaining, and periodic integrity verification with retained reports.
Do we need to log model outputs and prompts?
Keep enough context to explain the decision and verify the control. Apply data minimization, redaction, hashing, or controlled references where full content would create unnecessary privacy or security risk.
How do we handle legal hold?
Define a retention override that prevents deletion for specified scopes, and ensure all hold actions are logged and approved.
What do auditors want to see in exports?
A scoped bundle of relevant records, the approved policy and configuration, a manifest, checksums, access and export history, and clear instructions for independent integrity verification.
Is seven years required for every AI audit log?
Seven years is an editable example in this template. Use it only when a documented legal, regulatory, contractual, or approved operational basis supports that period.
Continue the dossier
Build the evidence around the policy.
These companion resources cover export contents, execution evidence, and the human decisions that sit beside the retention schedule.
Editable policy / v1.1
Put the retention decision on record.
Download the complete Markdown template, assign the owners, and review the first schedule against your actual systems and obligations.