the scottish register of tartans (srt) is scotland's official tartan register. the "srt" is maintained and administrated by the national archives of scotland (nas), a statutory body based in edinburgh. the aim of the register is to provide a definitive and accessible resource to promote and preserve tartans. it also aims to be the definitive source for the registration of new tartans (that pass nas criteria for inclusion). the register itself is made up of the existing registers of the sta and the stwr as they were at the time of the srt's launch, and new registrations from 5 february 2009 onward. on the register's website users can register new tartans (for a fee), search for and request the threadcounts of existing tartans and receive notifications of newly registered tartans. one criticism of the srt and nas's management of it is that its exclusivity, in both cost and criteria, necessarily means that it cannot actually achieve its goals of definiteness, preservation and open access. the current version of the sta's iti, for example, already contains a large number of tartans that do not appear in the srt, and the gulf will only widen under current policy.