Laws of Vietnam

Article 1.- To promulgate together with this Decision the Regulation on deposit of copies of publications.

Article 2.- This Decision takes effect 15 days after its publication in "CONG BAO" and replaces the Culture and Information Minister's Decision No. 01/1998/QD-BVHTT of July 30, 1998, promulgating the Regulation on deposit of copies of publications.

Article 3.- The director of the Office, the director of the Publication Department, directors of provincial/municipal Culture and Information Services and publishing houses, and heads of agencies and organizations which are granted publication permits shall implement this Decision.

Minister of Culture and Information
LE DOAN HOP

Article 1.- Deposit of copies of publications

Publishing houses, and agencies and organizations which are granted publication permits (including foreign agencies and international organizations operating in Vietnam) shall deposit copies of publications (including publications disseminated through computer networks) with state management agencies according to Article 27 of the Publication Law, Article 12 of the Government's Decree No. 111/2005/ND-CP of August 26, 2005, detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Publication Law and this Regulation.

Article 2.- Receipt, reading and archive of deposited publications

The Publication Department is the state management agency in charge of receiving, reading and archiving deposited publications of publishing houses and agencies and organizations which are granted publication permits nationwide.

Provincial/municipal Culture and Information Services are state management agencies in charge of receiving, reading and archiving deposited publications for which they have granted publication permits.

Article 3.- Time limit for deposit of copies of publications and quantities of deposited copies

At least 10 days before distribution of publications, publishing houses or agencies and organizations which are granted publication permits shall deposit copies of publications in the following quantity:

1. For publications published in first or revised editions:

a/ Publishing houses, and agencies and organizations which are granted publication permits by the Publication Department or provincial/municipal Culture and Information Services shall deposit three copies of each publication to the Publication Department, the Culture and Information Ministry (for publications printed in less than 300 copies, only two copies shall be deposited).

b/ Agencies and organizations which are granted publication permits by provincial/municipal Culture and Information Services shall, apart from depositing copies of the publications with the Publication Department according to Point a of this Clause, deposit two copies of each publication with the concerned Culture and Information Services.

2. For publications reprinted without revision and not falling under the provisions of Article 21 of the Publication Law, only one copy is required to be deposited according to Clause 1 of this Article.

3. For a publication printed by many printing establishments, only copies printed by a printing establishment shall be deposited with the agency receiving copies of publications defined in Clause 1 of this Article, but the total number of copies printed by all printing establishments must be clearly declared in the deposit declaration form.

4. For a publication classified as confidential, one copy shall be deposited with the Publication Department, but it is necessary to declare in the deposit declaration form that it is a confidential document so that its confidentiality can be ensured in accordance with the Ordinance on Protection of State Secrets.

Article 4.- Procedures for deposit of copies of publications

The deposit of copies of publications shall be carried out according to the procedures specified at Point 3, Section II of the Culture and Information Ministry's Circular No. 30/2006/TT-BVHTT of February 2, 2006, guiding the implementation of the Government's Decree No. 111/2005/ND-CP, specifically as follows:

1. A deposited publication shall be enclosed with two deposit declaration forms which contain all information according to form No. 04 issued together with the Culture and Information Minister's Decision No. 31/2006/QD-BVHTT of March 1, 2006.

2. For deposited publications of publishing houses:

- On books and materials in the form of book shall be affixed the "deposit" stamp and inscribed the time of deposit; heads or authorized persons of publishing houses shall sign on the page printed with the title of the books.

- On pamphlets, calendars, video and audio tapes and discs shall be affixed the "deposit" stamp and inscribed the time of deposit; heads or authorized persons of publishing houses shall sign on the place printed with the number of the publication decision.

3. On publications for which publication permits are granted by the Publication Department or provincial/municipal Culture and Information Services shall be inscribed the time of deposit; leaders or authorized persons of agencies or organizations that are granted publication permits shall sign and affix their stamps on the page on which the number of the publication permits is printed.

Article 5.- Publications exempted from deposit of copies

1. For publications additionally printed within the year, the deposit of their copies is not required, but a deposit declaration form showing the number of additionally printed copies must be submitted to the Publication Department and the local provincial/municipal Culture and Information Service after each additional printing.

2. Publications of publishing houses and agencies and organizations that are granted publication permits, when disseminated through computer networks, must comply with the provisions of Article 25 of the Publication Law. At least 10 days before a publication is posted on the network for the first time, a deposit declaration form as specified in Clause 1, Article 4 of this Regulation and one (01) CD-ROM recorded with the contents of the publication must be deposited with the Publication Department.

Article 6.- Receipt of copies of publications

1. Cadres of the Publication Department and provincial/municipal Culture and Information Services who are in charge of receiving deposited publications (hereinafter called publication-receiving persons for short) shall receive copies of publications only when the following conditions are fully met:

a/ The provisions of Articles 3, 4 and 5 of this Regulation are strictly abided by.

b/ Deposited copies are inscribed with information in the right position as prescribed in Article 26 of the Publication Law. For publications disseminated through computer networks, the above-said information must be displayed at the first part of the publications.

2. For publications which satisfy the conditions specified in Clause 1 of this Article, publication-receiving persons shall certify the time of deposit, sign and affix the "deposit receipt" stamp on two deposit declaration forms, then return one declaration form directly to the depositors or send it by post to the depositing units. This time is determined as the time of deposit of copies of publications.

3. Publication-receiving persons shall return publications which do not satisfy conditions defined in Clause 1 of this Article as soon as these publication are deposited to publishing houses or agencies or organizations which are granted publication permits for supplementation or correction; certify the time of return in two deposit declaration forms and return one declaration form directly to the depositors or send it by post to the depositing units.

4. After the returned publications are supplemented or corrected, the number of to be-deposited copies and the procedures for deposit shall comply with Articles 3 and 4 of this Regulation.

5. Publication-receiving persons shall hand over deposited publications to experts and collaborators in charge of checking deposited publications who work for the Publication Department or provincial/municipal Culture and Information Services (hereinafter called persons in charge of checking publications) as follows:

a/ To hand over one copy to an expert in charge of checking publications right on the date of receipt.

b/ To hand over one copy to the head of the group of collaborators in charge of checking publications according to a timetable set by the person in charge of checking publications.

Article 7.- Comparison of deposited publications with publishing plan registration certificates or publication permits

Publication-receiving persons shall check deposited publications as follows:

1. To compare information inscribed on the deposited publications with those inscribed on publishing plan registration certificates or publication permits.

2. When discovering that information inscribed on a deposited publication is different from the publishing plan registration certificate or publication permit, the publication-receiving person shall report on the seriousness of the violation and propose handling measures to immediate superior within three days after receiving copies of the publication.

Article 8.- Procedures and responsibilities for checking deposited publications

Persons in charge of checking publications shall read publications according to the following process:

1. To read and check publications whether or not they violate the provisions of Articles 10, 19, 20, 25 and 29 of the Publication Law.

2. To write comments on the read publications in the reading slips (made according to a form set by the Culture and Information Ministry) and identify publications of high ideological and artistic value or positive impacts on social life.

3. When detecting a deposited publication in violation of the provisions of Article 10, 19, 20, 25 or 29 of the Publication Law, the person in charge of checking publications shall report the seriousness of the violation and propose handling measures to immediate superior within 07 days after receiving the deposited publication.

4. When a person in charge of checking publications has read a deposited publication having contents in violation of the provisions of Articles 10 and 29 of the Publication Law but fails to detect these violations, the head of his/her agency shall, depending on the seriousness of his/her violation, consider and handle him/her in accordance with the Ordinance on Cadres and Civil Servants or labor contracts.

5. When the direct manager of the person in charge of checking publications has received the reading slip and report on the seriousness of violation of a deposited publications but fails to promptly propose handling measures to his/her superior authority, the head of his/her agency shall, depending on the seriousness of his/her violation, consider and handle him/her in accordance with the Ordinance on Cadres and Civil Servants.

6. Every week, persons in charge of checking publications shall return deposited publications they have read to cadres managing deposited publication warehouses of the Publication Department or provincial/municipal Culture and Information Services.

Article 9.- Handling of violations regarding publishing plan registration certificates or publication permits

For publications in violation of publishing plan registration certificates or publication permits, the director of the Publication Department or directors of provincial/municipal Culture and Information Services shall:

1. Within seven days after receiving copies of publications, send an official letter to the publishing houses or agencies or organizations which are granted publication permits requesting the latter to suspend the distribution of publications and explain the violations.

2. Depending on the seriousness of violations, to apply the following handling measures:

a/ For publications without publishing plan registration certificates or publication permits: To send an official letter to the publishing houses or agencies or organizations which are granted publication permits requesting the latter to suspend the distribution of or recall publications by themselves and transfer them to competent functional agencies for handling in accordance with law.

b/ For publications unconformable with publishing plan registration certificates or publication permits: To send an official letter to the publishing houses or agencies or organizations which are granted publication permits requesting the latter to correct their publications before distribution. When publishing houses or agencies or organizations which are granted publication permits fail to strictly abide by requests of state management agencies, to issue an official letter to suspend the distribution of publications and transfer the cases to competent functional agencies for handling in accordance with law.

Article 10.- Handling of violations related to publication contents

The director of the Publication Department and directors of provincial/municipal Culture and Information Services shall:

1. For publications having contents in violation of the provisions of Articles 19, 20 and 25 of the Publication Law:

a/ Issue an official letter to request publishing houses or agencies or organizations which are granted publication permits to suspend the distribution of publications and explain their violations.

b/ Depending on the seriousness of violations, send an official letter to transfer the cases to competent functional agencies for handling in accordance with law.

2. For publications having contents in violation of the provisions of Article 10 and 29 of the Publication Law:

a/ Issue an official letter to request publishing houses or agencies or organizations which are granted publication permits to suspend the distribution of publications in order to organize the evaluation of the publications' contents.

b/ After receiving minutes on the evaluation of publications' contents, enclosed with opinions of managing agencies, depending on the seriousness of violations, propose to the Ministry of Culture and Information or provincial/municipal People's Committees one of the following handling measures: distribution suspension, recall, confiscation, circulation ban or destruction.

Article 11.- Handling of violations regarding the time limit for deposit of copies of publications

When publishing houses or agencies and organizations which are granted publication permits fail to deposit copies of publications or they distribute publications within 10 days after depositing copies of publications, the director of the Publication Department or directors of provincial/municipal Culture and Information Services shall request those publishing houses or those agencies and organizations to deposit copies of publications and, at the same time, transfer the cases to competent functional agencies for handling in accordance with law.

Article 12.- Building of deposit publications' warehouses

1. The Publication Department and provincial/municipal Culture and Information Services shall build warehouses for archiving deposited publications in order to effectively preserve and exploit deposited publications.

2. Managers of warehouses of the Publication Department and provincial/municipal Culture and Information Services shall:

a/ Preserve, classify and arrange deposited publications of each publishing house, or each agency or organization which is granted publication permits according to the time of warehousing for convenient exploitation and use in accordance with internal rules of the deposit warehouses.

b/ Make a list and sign for certification of ex-warehousing of publications which are liquidated after their archival duration has expired.

Article 13.- Time limit for archive and liquidation of copies of publications

1. The Publication Department and provincial/municipal Culture and Information Services shall archive copies of publications for two years.

2. Publications of high ideological or artistic value or great positive impacts on social life and violating publications are archived permanently.

3. Past the expiration of the archive duration, the director of the Publication Department and directors of provincial/municipal Culture and Information Services shall conduct liquidation and report it to the Ministry of Culture and Information and provincial/municipal People's Committees.