Legal deposit

General indications

Within sixty days from initial public distribution, the publisher or the figure responsible for the document in question is required to send one copy to the National Central Library of Florence and one to the National Central Library of Rome, as well as two copies to the regional archive.

The types of documents destined for legal deposit with the libraries are books, brochures, periodicals, geographic and topographic maps, atlases, manifestos and printed music produced either entirely or partially in Italy, destined for public use either on payment or free of charge and not distributed in strictly private contexts, irrespective of whether an ISBN code is applied or not.

In the case of self-published works produced either entirely or partially in Italy, the onus for deposit is on the author-patron, considered to be “their own publisher” and therefore directly responsible for sending the work to the relative depositories. (Publishing platforms sometimes provide for deposit to be made on behalf of the author; both methods are acceptable).

Partial exemption

If the print run for the work in question is no higher than 200, only two copies need to be deposited: one with the National Central Library of Florence and the other with the regional archive. Self-published works are always subject to partial exemption, whatever the print run.
Regional depository libraries are those appointed by Ministerial Decree issued by the Ministry of Culture on 28/12/2007 for the province in which the publisher is based or, in the case of self-published works, in which the author is resident.

Total exemption

The following documents are exempt from legal deposit:

• Unabridged reprints (pursuant to art. 24, paragraph 5, of Decree Law no. 66 of 24/04/2014)
• Photocopies.
• Typewritten or printed documents produced by computer for personal use.
• Teaching materials for internal training courses.
• Doctoral theses.
• Provisional editions, in the event that a definitive edition is published.
• Articles awaiting publication, and self-printed articles or those printed at the relative university exclusively for competition-related purposes.
• Publications by foreign publishers, even if printed in Italy.
• Periodicals with fewer than 10 pages accompanying objects produced in series for collection purposes (watches, pens, figurines, phials, perfumes, etc.).

Agreements have been stipulated between the following organisations regarding the deposit of periodicals:

• The National Central Library of Florence and ANES (National Association for the Publishing of Specialised Periodicals).
• The National Central Library of Florence, FIEG (Italian Federation of Newspaper Publishers) and USPI (Italian Periodical Printing Union) for the cumulative deposit of newspapers and periodicals.

In the event of confirmed breach of the duty to deposit, Presidential Decree 252/2006 provides for an administrative fine equal to three times the commercial value of the document, which is doubled for repeat offences, up to a maximum of EUR 1,500.00, for each non-deposited document.

Further information is available from the following web pages.

Legislation regarding legal deposit (Italian law 106/2004 and Presidential Decree 252/2006): https://biblioteche.cultura.gov.it/it/Attivita/deposito-legale/index.html

Magazzini Digitali: https://bncf.cultura.gov.it/biblioteca/magazzini-digitali/

The deposit of copies for recording in the Registry of Copyright Works (art. 103 of Law 633/1941) held by the Ministry of Culture – DGBDA – Service II – Copyright:

https://biblioteche.cultura.gov.it/it/diritto-dautore/registro-pubblico-generale-delle-opere-protette/

How to deposit

Material sent by post or courier must be addressed, with the wording: “Esemplari fuori commercio per il deposito legale agli effetti della legge 15 aprile 2004, n. 106”, to:

Biblioteca nazionale centrale di Firenze
Ufficio Deposito legale
Via Antonio Magliabechi, 6
50122 FIRENZE

Materials may be consigned by post or courier. Materials consigned by courier or by hand will be accepted from Mondays to Fridays from 8.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.
It is not necessary to send materials by recorded delivery.

Each parcel must contain an accompanying list, which will be approved and returned as receipt of deposit to the sender via the email address provided.

The list must provide the general information of the entity making the deposit together with a list of the publications contained in the parcel.

A brief history

In Italy, the first State to pass legislation on “printing rights” (later legal deposit) was the Venetian Senate, which, with its comprehensive law of 1603 regarding printing, ordered printers to provide the librarian of St. Mark’s with a copy of every single book they printed.

In the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, Gian Gastone de’ Medici passed an order on 25 December 1736 obliging the printers of Florence to provide the Magliabechiana Library with a copy of everything they printed, and in 1743, this obligation was extended to printers throughout the Grand Duchy.

In 1848, the Decree passed by Carlo Alberto on printing established that every printer in the Kingdom of Sardinia had to consign three copies of any printed document to the appointed Prosecutors, who in turn sent one copy to the Fiscal Attorney (overseeing publishing), one to the Court Archives (responsible for conserving publications), and one to the library of the closest university to the place of publication (for study purposes).

With the unification of Italy, these laws were extended to the entire kingdom and adapted to the new context.

Since 1869, a copy of anything printed in Italy must be deposited with the National Central Library of Florence, with another copy going to the National Central Library of Rome as of 1880. The third copy continues to be deposited with the university of the area of production.

1910 saw the enacting of Law 432, which reorganised this area of legislation and established that, in the absence of a university in the province of production, the third copy should be deposited with the public state library of the provincial capital.

Law no. 654 of 26 May 1932 (Mandatory deposit of printed materials and publications) provided detailed indications of the materials either subject to or exempt from deposit, and reiterated the duty to provide the Royal Prosecutors with three copies, which were then forwarded to the two National Central Libraries and the relative provincial library.

The widespread failure to comply with this obligation, combined with an increased need for censorship, resulted in a further reorganisation of legislation: Law no. 374 of 2 February 1939 (Regulations regarding the mandatory consignment of printed materials and publications) and Lieutenant’s Decree 660/1945 required printers to provide 5 copies of each publication, 4 for the provincial prefecture and 1 for the local public prosecutor.

The problems faced in ensuring compliance, the need to clearly communicate the cultural purpose of deposit, and the need to also archive new media, in addition to printing, called for the direct involvement of libraries and the elimination of all intermediary figures.

These requirements formed the basis of Law no. 106 of 15 April 2004 and the subsequent regulation 252/2006. This new law:

• removed all intermediary figures, requiring direct consignment to the depository libraries.
• appointed the national archive and regional archives with the duty of “preserving cultural and social history”.
• established regional archives, rendering each region responsible for identifying depositories.
• took into account evolutions in technology within the publishing sector, extending the obligation for deposit to new categories of document, such as publications online and on digital media.
• provided for the setting up of national library services for information and access to documentation.
• required depositories to monitor compliance with the requirements of legal deposit related to all documentation within their field of responsibility.
• established sanctions for failure to comply with mandatory consignment.

Contacts

All necessary information can be obtained:

• for the depositing of monographs by writing to bnc-fi.depositolegale@cultura.gov.it or bnc-fi.relazionieditori@cultura.gov.it, or by calling (+39) 055 24919 30-31-32-40
  Library Material Acquisition Department, supervisor Ms. Francesca Filippeschi.
• for the depositing of periodicals and newspapers
  by writing to bnc-fi.depositoperiodici@cultura.gov.it, or by calling (+39) 055 24919 35-36-38
  Periodicals and Newspaper Library Sector, supervisor Ms. Giovanna Lambroni.
• for the depositing of digital publications by visiting the Magazzini Digitali page.
• bnc-fi.magazzinidigitali@cultura.gov.it tel. (+39) 055 24919 73
• Supervisor Ms. Chiara Storti

Forms

https://www.librari.beniculturali.it/it/Attivita/deposito-legale/modulistica