The International Guide to Legal Deposit

Jan T. Jasion

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780429788871
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Library & Information Science
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

First published in 1991, this volume aims to take a close look at the laws of 27 countries to locate what others value in the realm of legal deposit and heighten our awareness of its importance for free access to information. It responds to the great concern over the freedom of the press, the end of censorship and absolute government secrecy, and guaranteed public access to information. The term 'legal deposit', known in the UK and several former-British Empire countries as 'copyright deposit', originated in France in 1537 and has spread throughout the world, though the definition of the term remains questionable. Jan T. Jasion examines this through three parts: various aspects of legal deposit, comparing legal deposit worldwide and a detailed examination of the laws of 27 countries to compare the various national interpretations of legal deposit.

Part 1

Introduction

Today, more so than ever before, there is great concern with the freedom of the press, the end of censorship and absolute government secrecy, and guaranteed public access to information. One of the oldest legal mechanisms to gain this freedom is ‘legal deposit’, even though in its beginnings and still today in a limited sense it is used as a tool of the censors. Legal deposit, in theory, makes it possible for the citizen to have access to all published material from his or her own country. It is the foundation on which the concept of universal availability of publications (UAP) rests as well as the various national freedom of information laws. Without free access to what has already been published by either the government or private citizens, freedom of information is limited and incomplete.

Legal deposit, erroneously referred to in the UK and several other countries, formerly part of the British Empire, as ‘copyright deposit’, first began in France in 1537 and has now spread to almost every country in the world. No definition of the idea that covers every situation has yet been established. Even the term ‘legal deposit’ is questionable. ‘Legal’ means it is obligatory under law and punishable if contravened. However, many countries have not established sanctions against those who do not abide by it. Furthermore, there are internal departmental memoranda, private contracts, etc. which achieve the same results but without the ability to resort to the courts to enforce them. ‘Deposit’ also seems not quite correct, since the government sometimes pays all or part of the cost of the publication, and libraries sometimes have to select the publications they wish to receive.

There are four important aspects of legal deposit legislation, if we accept the premise that the underlying purpose, whether stated or not, is the preservation of the nation’s cultural heritage. These four aspects are: exhaustiveness, preservation, information and access. Exhaustiveness means that the law or laws provide for the depositing of all information published, regardless of subject, format or producer. Many countries exclude publications in audio-visual format and there are also cases of important types of documents, such as newspapers, patents, annual reports, voters’ lists, etc. being excluded. Not all categories of producers, whether printer or publisher, are always included. Government publishers are not always included, and sometimes deliberately excluded. In a few countries the central government’s writ does not extend equally and completely to all areas. This usually occurs in countries with a federal system of government, for example, Canada, Switzerland, India, the USA, or a quasi-federal one, such as the UK.

Without laws guaranteeing the preservation of the legal deposit material, there is no guarantee of access by the public. Only a few countries embrace the concept of retention and preservation of legal deposit material in their laws. Most rely on custom and tradition to keep everything. However, one country, Poland, goes so far as to state that all legal deposit material is the property of the state and not of the library, and therefore the state can and does make laws concerning the preservation of these copies.

Information about what has been deposited needs to be made available to the public. This is usually done by way of the national bibliography as well as through the depository library’s own catalogue. However, few legal deposit laws stipulate that all the deposited material be catalogued, or that this information be made available to the public.

Public access is also a concept which should be protected by law. Most countries have a statement of purpose in the law establishing their national library or national depository by which the public are guaranteed access. However, this is different from having access to the legal deposit collection. There are legal deposit libraries which charge a fee, have a vetting system, or even refuse admittance to the public.

Unfortunately, the legal provisions for the preservation, information and public access of the legal deposit collections, where they do exist, are usually in the act establishing the library or in the library’s charter, and therefore outside the scope of this study.

The aim of this book is to take a close look at the laws of a number of countries so that we can find out what others think is important in the realm of legal deposit, and heighten our awareness of its importance for free access to information.

The book is divided into three parts. The first looks at the various aspects of legal deposit and provides examples from many countries.

Part 2 is in many ways the core of the book as it compares in list and table form the legal deposit regulations of countries worldwide. Selected common elements are tabulated in a world survey of legal deposit, supported by full lists of legal deposit libraries and legislation.

Part 3 provides a detailed examination of the laws of 27 countries and a brief sketch of the rest of the countries in order to compare the various national interpretations of legal deposit. The countries chosen for a detailed study were selected on the basis of the differences in their geopolitical make-up and because of some unique aspect of their legal deposit laws. The countries selected are from Latin America, North America, the Caribbean, Western and Eastern Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Pacific region, South-East, South and North-West Asia. There are countries with very old traditions of legal deposit (Poland), with very new laws (Belgium), or without any legal deposit laws (Switzerland and Guam), with very complex laws (France) and simple laws (Belize). Several countries with a federal system of government were chosen to show how the type of government can affect legal deposit (Canada). Some of the countries were chosen for their size (USA and Malta). Another important factor was availability of information and language.

An extensive bibliography is provided at the end of the book.

The study of international legal deposit provision is not totally new. Previous studies (in English) have been done by Partridge (1938), Lees (1971), Pomassl (1977), Lunn (1978 and 1981) and the proceedings of a LIBER conference in 1981 in Vienna. However, Partridge limited himself to the British Empire, Lunn’s was primarily a work on how to write a model legal deposit law, Pomassl very briefly sketched the laws of most of the countries, but his prime aim was bibliographic control, and Lees’s thesis was a general view of legal deposit with a heavy emphasis on the British system and its operation. All these works omitted several vital points in legal deposit legislation, now covered in this book, such as the role of state or provincial laws in a country with a federal system of government, for example, Canada, Australia, West Germany, Switzerland, India, Yugoslavia, Nigeria, the USA. Another area previously not covered concerns internal government regulations for the depositing of government publications at all three levels, central, provincial and local. Partially omitted up to now were private contractual agreements between libraries and publishers’ associations, in lieu of a legal deposit law, as is the case in the Netherlands and Switzerland. No other work attempts an international comparative approach.

It is not the purpose of this book to look at the operation of the legal deposit laws in practice, or to assess their achievement or failure, nor to examine the way different countries handle the various legal deposit collections, unless this is reflected in a law or ordinance.

The information included here is as accurate as was possible. Many laws have been passed or abrogated, amended or updated, the knowledge of which has not been brought to light. It is hoped that this international study, a pioneering venture, will lead to further debate, discussion, criticism and research. The author welcomes all comments and criticisms. Information about laws omitted and other omissions will be gratefully received, as will be criticisms on the interpretations provided on those laws in force.

Aspects of legal deposit legislation

A broad definition of legal deposit which might suffice is that legal deposit is a government provision which compels producers of all types of publications to deposit a certain number of copies of each publication in designated libraries or similar institutions.

The purpose of legal deposit is given today as the preservation of the nation’s cultural heritage. However, legal deposit has served and is still serving other purposes, such as copyright protection, censorship, provision of exchange material, bibliographic control, provision of statistical information, provision of library stock, provision of government and legal publications, and provision of universal access to published information. Very few countries state in their laws what the aim of their legal deposit legislation is. The US deposit laws are strictly for copyright protection. In Fiji, Algeria, Poland, Singapore and Hong Kong, preservation of the nation’s cultural heritage is mentioned. Legal deposit legislation has many different aspects and these vary from country to country. Despite the obvious differences in the political, legal, social, educational and historical make-up of these countries, there are certain threads of similarity in the warp and woof of their respective legal deposit provisions. It is these areas of similarity that will be explored and compared and examples given from the various countries under scrutiny. The examples will be limited to three countries.

The term ‘government ...