(a) The agency head may make or cause to be made preservation duplicates or may designate as preservation duplicates existing copies of essential state records. A preservation duplicate shall be durable, accurate, complete, and clear, and a preservation duplicate made by means of photography, microphotography, photocopying, film, microfilm, electronic file, or digital image stored on unalterable media shall be made in conformity with the standards prescribed therefor by the administrator.(b) A preservation duplicate made by a photographic, photostatic, microfilm, microcard, miniature photographic, electronic file, digital image, or other process which accurately reproduces or forms a durable and unalterable medium for so reproducing the original, shall have the same force and effect for all purposes as the original record whether the original record is in existence or not. A transcript, exemplification, or certified copy of such preservation duplicate shall be deemed for all purposes to be a transcript, exemplification, or certified copy of the original record.
West Virginia Legal Code