Government Publishes Legal Deposit Regulations Review

The Government has published its review of regulations allowing the legal deposit libraries to collect online content for preservation purposes after many months of discussions involving the News Media Association and other stakeholders.

By participating in the Joint Committee on Legal Deposit, the NMA has worked to ensure that publishers’ commercial interests are not prejudiced by the process, while helping the Government achieve its objective of archiving non-print publications for historical purposes. 

The Post Implementation Review of the Legal Deposit Regulations was published by DCMS on Monday following many months of discussion by publishers and libraries in the Joint Committee on Legal Deposit.  

The Legal Deposit Libraries (Non-Print Works) Regulations 2013 were introduced on 5 April 2013 to extend the statutory deposit regime, under which newspaper publishers provide copies of every published edition to the British Library for archiving, to works published online. 

The aim of the review was to consider the extent to which the Government’s policy objectives had been achieved, in particular the aim of “allowing preservation of non-print publications for future generations.”  

The NMA sits on JCLD and has been a key stakeholder in legal deposit discussions over the past 20 years. 

The NMA has worked to ensure that the Legal Deposit Libraries can provide a national collection of the UK’s non-print published material, such as websites, blogs and e-journals, in a way that does not prejudice publishers’ commercial interests and that respects copyright ownership.  

The practical process of collecting non-print works is a work in progress, and the PIR is a snapshot in time along the implementation pathway.  

DCMS guidance to help publishers and deposit libraries understand their obligations under the Regulations can be found in the Guidance: Guidance on the Legal Deposit Libraries (Non-Print Works) Regulations 2013 document.