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GOV.PH

LEGAL DEPOSIT

What is Legal Deposit?

Legal deposit as a statutory obligation requires publishers, distributors and in some countries, printers to freely provide copies of their publications to the national collection. In many countries this scope is being extended to include electronic resources together with other forms of non-print media. Presidential Decree 812, issued in 1975, oversees the legal deposit regulation in the Philippines. This decree outlines comprehensive guidelines for the systematic collection of published printed materials within the country. Its primary objective is to ensure the preservation and accessibility of these materials for future generations, safeguarding against unforeseen events and calamities that might otherwise threaten their existence.

(https://www.ifla.org/references/best-practice-for-national-bibliographic-agencies-in-a-digital-age/organisation/legal-deposit/statutory-legal-deposit/)

What is subject to legal deposit?

Any printed book is subject to legal deposit.

Book includes all printed literary works, musical arrangements, catalogues, periodicals, government publications, prints, photographs, drawings and other graphic arts, maps, plans, charts, and tables, and all supplements thereto, whether in their original form or adaptations or reproductions of the same, which are made available for sale or free distribution to the general public, but shall not include legal documents, printed forms, trade circulars, timetables, and other commercial documents.

Printed, as applied to books, means that which is produced by printing, lithography, photography, duplication, or any like process.

Who are subject to legal deposit?

  1. Publisher refers to the person, natural or juridical, which undertakes the production of a book and its offer for sale or free distribution. The publisher of a book may also be its printer.

  • Printer refers to the proprietor of the printing establishment.

  1. The heads of the various departments, bureaus, offices, and branches of the government, including the provinces and municipalities, and government-owned and government-controlled corporations. Fifty (50) copies of all printed reports or documents of any kind to serve as the mainstay of the exchange commitments of the National Library, both national and international

  2. We also welcome voluntary deposits from Authors, Contributors or Editors.

When to deposit a book?

The deposit shall be made within one (1) month from the date any printed book is first delivered out of the press. 

Where to make a deposit?

The publisher of such book shall furnish, free of charge and in the same finish as the best copies of the same are produced:

  1. Two best copies thereof to the National Library of the Philippines (NLP); and 

  1. a copy each to the University of the Philippines Main Library, the University of the Philippines Library at Cebu City, the Mindanao State University Library, and the Cultural Center of the Philippines Library. 

Why deposit a book ?

There is an imperative need to preserve published and printed materials for posterity, and against unforeseen events and calamities such as fires, earthquakes, floods, or wars that may cause untold destruction to our national culture.

Thus, in case of total or partial non-fulfillment of the deposit, the publisher shall upon conviction be liable to a fine of not less than Fifty Pesos (P50.00) nor more than Five Hundred Pesos (P500.00) and shall, likewise, be obliged to deliver the materials published or printed. If the copy of the material is no longer available, a reproduction thereof, or the value of the work, shall be added to the fine.

How to deposit a book?

  1. Submit the copy of printed book either:

    1. Electronically

    2. One (1) best copy of the electronic/digital material (*The title of the publication should match the title in the information sheet.)

    3. Accomplished Legal Deposit information Sheet Accomplished Legal Deposit information Sheet (Online form may be accessed through this link : https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc5BAewQISHLUfnWgX5rmu54gRSLk-OBvLCocRciNhUfWXZnQ/viewform

    4. Scanned or Digital copy of Request letter (if requesting for Certificate of Legal Deposit)

  1. Hand-deliver/Service Courier/Postal Mail 

  2. Two (2) best copies of materials (bound)

  3. Accomplished Legal Deposit information Sheet (Online form may be accessed through this link : https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc5BAewQISHLUfnWgX5rmu54gRSLk-OBvLCocRciNhUfWXZnQ/viewform

  4. Request letter (if requesting for Certificate of Legal Deposit)

  5. Refer to this address when sending your publications:

MELODY M. MADRID
Librarian V/Chief
Collection Development Division – Legal Deposit
National Library of the Philippines
T.M. Kalaw St. Ermita Manila, 1000, Philippines

  1. The National Library of the Philippines shall confirm receipt of deposit by issuing Acknowledgement Receipt (AR) within 3 working days. Printed copy of the Acknowledgement Receipt (AR) shall be claimed at the NLP or sent via email.

  1. Upon request of the depositor, a Certificate of Legal Deposit (CLD) may be issued free of charge. However, certificates with dry seal shall have a minimal fee of One Hundred Pesos (P100.00).

For more information please contact:

Landline : (02) 5314-2100 loc. 404/405 

Email : legaldeposit@nlp.gov.ph/ cdd@nlp.gov.ph

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