The Supreme Court of South Carolina

We find that the retention schedule for court reporter tapes should be amended. Accordingly, pursuant to Article V, §4, of the South Carolina Constitution, we amend Rule 607(i), SCACR to read as follows:

(i) Retention of Tapes. Except as provided below, a court reporter shall retain the primary and backup tapes of a proceeding for a period of at least five (5) years after the date of the proceeding, and the court reporter may reuse or destroy the tapes after the expiration of that period. If the proceeding was a hearing or trial which lasted for more than one day, the time shall be computed from the last day of the hearing or trial. In any proceeding which has been transcribed, the court reporter shall retain the primary and backup tapes which have been transcribed for a period of at least thirty (30) days after the original transcript is sent to the requesting party, to allow any party to challenge the accuracy of the transcription. If no challenge is received by the court reporter within the thirty (30) day period, the tapes may be reused or destroyed.

This amendment shall become effective immediately. Further, the Order issued by this Court on June 26, 2002, ordering court reporters to cease destruction of all tapes in criminal and post-conviction relief cases is hereby vacated.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Columbia, South Carolina
August 6, 2003