N.Y. Veh. & Traf. Law § 201

§ 201. Custody of records. 1. Documents. The commissioner may destroy:\n (a) any application, including supporting documents, for registration\nand/or title of a motor vehicle or trailer, other than an application\nfor renewal of registration, or any notice of a lien on a motor vehicle\nor trailer, after such application shall have been on file for a period\nof five years;\n (b) any application for renewal of a registration which results in the\nissuance of a registration renewal of any motor vehicle or trailer, upon\nentry of an electronic record of renewal on the files;\n (c) any application for a driver's license, including any document\nrequired to be filed with any such application, after such application\nshall have been on file for a period of five years;\n (d) any application, including supporting documents, for the\nregistration, other than a renewal of a registration, of a snowmobile\nafter such application shall have been on file for a period of two\nyears;\n (e) any application for renewal of a registration which results in the\nissuance of a registration renewal for any snowmobile, upon the\nexpiration of the registration renewal issued;\n (f) any application, including supporting documents, for registration\nand/or title of a motorboat, other than an application for renewal of\nregistration, or any notice of a lien on a motorboat after such\napplication shall have been on file for a period of four years;\n (g) any application for renewal of a registration which results in the\nissuance of a registration renewal for any motorboat, upon the\nexpiration of the registration renewal issued;\n (h) any application, including supporting documents relating to\nownership, for any other registration, license or certificate issued\nunder this chapter and not specifically otherwise provided for in this\nsubdivision, after such application shall have been on file for a period\nof five years;\n (i) (i) any accident reports filed with the commissioner, conviction\ncertificates, police reports, complaints, satisfied judgment records,\nclosed suspension and revocation orders, hearing records, other than\naudio tape recordings of hearings, significant correspondence relating\nto any of the same, and any other record on file after remaining on file\nfor four years except that if the commissioner shall receive, during the\nlast year of such period of four years, written notice to retain one or\nmore of such papers or documents, the same shall be retained for another\nfour years in addition to said period of four years. The provisions of\nthis paragraph shall not apply to certificates of conviction filed with\nrespect to convictions which affect sentencing or administrative action\nrequired by law beyond such four year period. Such certificates may be\ndestroyed after they have no legal effect on sentencing or\nadministrative action;\n (ii)(A) Notwithstanding the provisions of subparagraph (i) of this\nparagraph, the commissioner may destroy any conviction certificates and\nclosed suspension and revocation orders after remaining on file for:\n (1) fifty-five years where the conviction and suspension or revocation\norder relates to a conviction, suspension or revocation by the holder of\nany driver's license when operating a commercial motor vehicle, as\ndefined in subdivision four of section five hundred one-a of this\nchapter, or by the holder of a commercial driver's license or commercial\nlearner's permit when operating any motor vehicle, who: has refused to\nsubmit to a chemical test pursuant to section eleven hundred ninety-four\nof this chapter or has been convicted of any of the following offenses:\nany violation of subdivision two, two-a, three, four or four-a of\nsection eleven hundred ninety-two of this chapter, any violation of\nsubdivision one or two of section six hundred of this chapter, any\nfelony involving the use of a motor vehicle, other than the use of a\nmotor vehicle in the commission of a felony involving manufacturing,\ndistributing, dispensing a controlled substance; or the conviction,\nsuspension or revocation involves any of the following offenses while\noperating a commercial motor vehicle: any violation of subdivision five\nor six of section eleven hundred ninety-two of this chapter, driving a\ncommercial motor vehicle when as a result of prior violations committed\nwhile operating a commercial motor vehicle, the driver's commercial\ndriver's license or commercial learner's permit is suspended or revoked,\nor has been convicted of causing a fatality through the negligent\noperation of a commercial motor vehicle, including but not limited to\nthe crimes of vehicular manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide\nas set forth in article one hundred twenty-five of the penal law;\n (2) fifteen years for violating an out of service order as provided\nfor in the rules and regulations of the department of transportation\nwhile operating a commercial motor vehicle.\n (B) Any conviction arising out of the use of a motor vehicle in the\ncommission of a felony involving manufacturing, distributing, or\ndispensing a controlled substance shall never be destroyed.\n (C) The provisions of this subparagraph shall only apply to records\nrequested by a state, the United States secretary of transportation, the\nperson who is the subject of the record, or a motor carrier who employs\nor who prospectively may employ the person who is the subject of the\nrecord.\n (j) audio tape recordings of hearings, two years after such hearing;\nprovided, however, that audio tape recordings of hearings held pursuant\nto section two hundred twenty-seven of this chapter may be destroyed\nninety days after a determination has been made as prescribed in such\nsection.\n (k) any records, including any reproductions or electronically created\nimages of such records and including any records received by the\ncommissioner from a court pursuant to paragraph (c) of subdivision ten\nof section eleven hundred ninety-two of this chapter or section\nforty-nine-b of the navigation law, relating to a finding of a violation\nof section eleven hundred ninety-two-a of this chapter or a waiver of\nthe right to a hearing under section eleven hundred ninety-four-a of\nthis chapter or a finding of a refusal following a hearing conducted\npursuant to subdivision three of section eleven hundred ninety-four-a of\nthis chapter or a finding of a violation of section forty-nine-b of the\nnavigation law or a waiver of the right to a hearing or a finding of\nrefusal following a hearing conducted pursuant to such section, after\nremaining on file for three years after such finding or entry of such\nwaiver or refusal or until the person that is found to have violated\nsuch section reaches the age of twenty-one, whichever is the greater\nperiod of time. Upon the expiration of the period for destruction of\nrecords pursuant to this paragraph, the entirety of the proceedings\nconcerning the violation or alleged violation of such section eleven\nhundred ninety-two-a of this chapter or such section forty-nine-b of the\nnavigation law, from the initial stop and detention of the operator to\nthe entering of a finding and imposition of sanctions pursuant to any\nsubdivision of section eleven hundred ninety-four-a of this chapter or\nof section forty-nine-b of the navigation law shall be deemed a nullity,\nand the operator shall be restored, in contemplation of law, to the\nstatus he occupied before the initial stop and prosecution.\n 2. Reproduction of documents by commissioner. The provisions of\nsubdivision one of this section shall not prevent the commissioner from\nreproducing a copy of any document specified in that subdivision or from\nelectronically creating and storing an image of any documents maintained\nby the department. Such image or reproduction may be designated as the\nofficial departmental record. The original document may be destroyed\nafter such reproduction or image has been made and filed and the\ndestruction of the reproduction or image shall be governed by the\nprovisions of subdivision one of this section.\n 3. Electronically or mechanically stored records. Any electronically\nor mechanically stored record relating to:\n (a) certificates of title shall be retained for a period of seven\nyears from the date of the issuance of the title plus an additional\nthree consecutive years of inactivity regarding the titled vehicle;\n (b) liens and satisfaction of liens shall be retained for one year\nfrom the date of satisfaction;\n (c) renewal of the registration of any motor vehicle or trailer shall\nbe retained for a period of one year from the date of expiration of the\nregistration issued;\n (d) driver's licenses shall be retained for a period of two years from\nthe date of expiration of the last driver's license issued;\n (e) registrations, licenses, or certificates not otherwise provided\nfor in this subdivision shall be retained for a period of one year from\nthe date of expiration of the last registration, license or certificate;\n (f) documents specified in paragraph (i) of subdivision one of this\nsection shall be retained until the document itself may be destroyed.\n 4. Whenever any document referred to in subdivision one of this\nsection shall have been destroyed, a document produced from the\nsurviving electronically or mechanically stored data record shall be\nconsidered the original record of such document.\n 5. Whenever any document referred to in subdivision one of this\nsection or any record retained in subdivision three of this section has\nbeen retained beyond the required retention period of such document or\nrecord, the document or record shall not be a public record; and, to the\nextent that any document referred to in paragraph (k) of subdivision one\nof this section has not been destroyed at the expiration of the\nretention period set forth therein, such document shall be deemed\ndestroyed as a matter of law for all purposes upon the expiration of the\nretention period.\n 6. Whenever any document referred to in subdivision one of this\nsection is filed with this department when it is not required to be\nfiled and is used by this department for no other purposes, other than\nfor statistics or research, the document shall not be a public record.\nProvided, however, that an accident report filed with this department\nwhen it is not required to be filed shall not be a public record except\nas follows: for use by the state or any political subdivision thereof\nfor no other purposes other than for statistics or research relating to\nhighway safety; for any lawful purpose by a person to whom such report\npertains or named in such report, or his or her authorized\nrepresentative; and, for use by any other person, or his or her\nauthorized representative, who has demonstrated to the satisfaction of\nthe commissioner that such person is or may be a party to a civil action\narising out of the conduct described in such accident report.\n 7. Where a judge or magistrate reports a license suspension or\nrevocation to the commissioner, following a youthful offender\ndetermination, as is required by section five hundred thirteen of this\nchapter, the commissioner shall not make available the finding of the\ncourt of youthful offender status to any person, or public or private\nagency.\n