Wednesday, June 22, 2005
This message is intended for all Shell staff, from Beat Hess, Group Legal Director
Document Retention
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
On January 9, 2004, Royal Dutch/Shell announced a re-categorization of certain of its hydrocarbon reserves. Following that announcement, as part of our effort to cooperate with investigations by governmental regulatory authorities and to prepare to respond to private lawsuits in the United States, we asked all employees worldwide to retain all records of any Group company that relate to the quantification, classification, or internal and external reporting of Group company hydrocarbon reserves. Although the Group subsequently has settled with some regulatory authorities and indicated that it is in discussions looking towards a possible settlement of some of the private lawsuits, these record retention requirements continue to apply with full force and effect.
These preservation requirements apply to documents and records of any kind, including not only files or other records on paper, but also electronic files, e-mails and databases, regardless of whether they are kept in the office or at your home. In some instances, this may require you or personnel at your location to continue to suspend normal document retention policies in order to preserve information longer than otherwise would be the case.
Documents should be preserved even if they merely are drafts, regardless of whether they were ever completed. If you have any doubt about whether a document should be preserved under this policy, please resolve those doubts in favor of preservation. You will be notified when this preservation policy has been lifted.
If you have any questions about this announcement, please direct those questions to personnel in your local legal offices, or you may direct questions to Earl D. Weed by phone at Ư.713.241.5195, or by email to earl.weed@shell.com, or to Charles Platt by phone at ძ.70.447.4219, or by email to charles.platt@shell.com.
We recognize that these document preservation requirements are an annoyance and create additional burdens for you. As I am sure you can appreciate, however, our legal duties and our desire to fully cooperate with any regulatory inquiries require us to continue to adhere to these preservation policies for the time being.
On behalf of the Group companies, I thank you for your cooperation.
Beat Hess
Group Legal Director
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
On January 9, 2004, Royal Dutch/Shell announced a re-categorization of certain of its hydrocarbon reserves. Following that announcement, as part of our effort to cooperate with investigations by governmental regulatory authorities and to prepare to respond to private lawsuits in the United States, we asked all employees worldwide to retain all records of any Group company that relate to the quantification, classification, or internal and external reporting of Group company hydrocarbon reserves. Although the Group subsequently has settled with some regulatory authorities and indicated that it is in discussions looking towards a possible settlement of some of the private lawsuits, these record retention requirements continue to apply with full force and effect.
These preservation requirements apply to documents and records of any kind, including not only files or other records on paper, but also electronic files, e-mails and databases, regardless of whether they are kept in the office or at your home. In some instances, this may require you or personnel at your location to continue to suspend normal document retention policies in order to preserve information longer than otherwise would be the case.
Documents should be preserved even if they merely are drafts, regardless of whether they were ever completed. If you have any doubt about whether a document should be preserved under this policy, please resolve those doubts in favor of preservation. You will be notified when this preservation policy has been lifted.
If you have any questions about this announcement, please direct those questions to personnel in your local legal offices, or you may direct questions to Earl D. Weed by phone at Ư.713.241.5195, or by email to earl.weed@shell.com, or to Charles Platt by phone at ძ.70.447.4219, or by email to charles.platt@shell.com.
We recognize that these document preservation requirements are an annoyance and create additional burdens for you. As I am sure you can appreciate, however, our legal duties and our desire to fully cooperate with any regulatory inquiries require us to continue to adhere to these preservation policies for the time being.
On behalf of the Group companies, I thank you for your cooperation.
Beat Hess
Group Legal Director
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