The United States National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has issued new regulations that establish standards for the digitization of US government records. The regulations are part of an effort to transition to a fully electronic government, and allow US federal agencies the authority to digitize and destroy source records and the electronic version become the recordkeeping copy. The specifications draw upon established international digitization standards such as ISO 19264, Metamorfoze, and FADGI guidelines. By adopting the image quality specifications found in ISO 19264 and the image analysis method described by FADGI, NARA has effectively defined the minimum requirements for a digital surrogate to serve as legal and evidentiary purpose as the source record. This paper presents the records management context of digitization, as well as discussing the quality management, documentation, image and metadata specifications, and validation requirements.