Overcoming legal "loopholes" in publishing activities

(Baonghean) - The Publishing Law 2012 was passed by the 13th National Assembly (4th session) and took effect from July 1, 2013. The Publishing Law 2012 ensures basic objectives, while overcoming legal "loopholes" in the field of publishing - printing - distribution of publications, promising to create positive changes in publishing - printing - distribution activities in the coming time.

About publishing

In the process of confirming the publishing plan, the state management agency no longer interferes too deeply in the content of the topics. This decentralized mechanism has created a fairly wide "playground" for publishers, while at the same time imposing great responsibility on the director and editor-in-chief of the publishing house. However, in reality, there are still books of poor quality, violating the Publishing Law, affecting the reading culture environment such as: Incorrect and incomplete representation of national border and territorial sovereignty; Depicting sexual life that is not in accordance with traditional customs; Errors in events, time, historical figures, etc. Many publications are discovered to have violated the law after being released and have their licenses revoked or revoked.

The above situation is due to the fact that publishing houses have loosened their management in publishing partnerships. In order to attract partners, some publishing houses have agreed to completely outsource the publishing to their partners. Therefore, the 2012 Publishing Law devotes a lot of content to improving the capacity of publishing houses.

The law also stipulates the title standards of the general director, in addition to other regulations, at least 3 years of experience in one of the following jobs: editing, publishing or press management, management at the publishing house's governing body. In addition, the title standards for the editor-in-chief are stipulated to have an editing practice certificate, at least 3 years of experience in editing at a publishing house or press agency, and other standards as prescribed by law. The law also stipulates more strictly the standards, duties, and powers of publishing house editors. Accordingly, in addition to having their name on publications, being able to refuse to edit works whose content shows signs of violation, and being responsible to the publishing house director and before the law for the content of the publications they edit, editors are allowed to participate in periodic training courses on publishing law knowledge and editing skills organized by the state management agency for publishing activities. In particular, editors are responsible for not disclosing or leaking the content of published works and documents before release, which may affect the rights of authors and copyright owners...

The Law allows organizations and individuals to associate with publishing houses to publish each work specified in the Law and clearly stipulates the responsibilities of the general director and editor-in-chief of the publishing house in the publishing association and the responsibilities of the associated partners.

Due to some nursery rhymes containing offensive content, the book "Nursery rhymes for preschool children" volume 6 (Fine Arts Publishing House) has been recalled.

Another new point in this Publishing Law is that agencies and organizations requesting a license to publish non-commercial documents must pay a fee for document content assessment to the publishing licensing authority. The application must include 3 manuscripts instead of 2 as before. If the document is for electronic publishing, the entire content must be saved on a digital device and foreign organizations in Vietnam must have an operating license issued by a competent state management agency of Vietnam.

About printing

The 2004 Publishing Law and Decree No. 105/2007/ND-CP of the Government have opened up a mechanism for socialization of printing activities. All economic sectors that meet the conditions prescribed by law are allowed to participate in printing activities, creating conditions for the printing industry to invest and develop rapidly.

Before 2004, the whole country had only over 160 printing establishments with primitive and outdated printing equipment, but now there are nearly 1,500 printing establishments with modern printing technology and equipment. However, the printing situation is very complicated, chaotic, haphazard, and difficult to control, leading to the situation of illegal printing and counterfeiting of state management documents occurring quite commonly, becoming a social problem. That raises the responsibility of the head of the printing establishment.

In addition to the regulations on activities; Granting, changing, re-granting, and revoking licenses for printing publications; Conditions for accepting printing publications, regulations on outsourcing printing of publications for foreign organizations and individuals, the 2012 Publishing Law specifically stipulates Article 35 “Responsibilities of heads of printing establishments”. This article clearly stipulates the specific legal responsibilities of heads of printing establishments for their printing activities.

About the publishing field

One of the new points in the 2012 Publishing Law is that it stipulates that publishing establishments such as enterprises and public service units must register with the state management agency before operating. Publishing establishments must also ensure the following conditions: The head of the publishing establishment must reside permanently in Vietnam; Have a diploma or certificate of training in knowledge and skills in publishing issued by a specialized publishing training and education institution; Have one of the following types of business registration certificates, enterprise registration certificates or decisions to establish public service units according to the provisions of law; Have a place to do publishing business.

For publishing establishments that are business households, the following conditions must be met: The household owner must be a permanent resident in Vietnam; have a business registration certificate, have a place to do business in publishing products, and do not have to register with a state management agency.

In addition, the 2012 Publishing Law also decentralizes the authority to border gates to handle procedures for importing publications. Accordingly, agencies, organizations and individuals can submit applications for licenses to import non-commercial publications to the publishing management agency or complete procedures and documents at the import border gate. This is also a new point in administrative procedure reform, creating favorable conditions for agencies, organizations and individuals to import publications.

About electronic publications

The 2012 Publishing Law mentions electronic publications and emphasizes that this is the most important issue that needs attention. The publishing and distribution of electronic publications are specifically regulated in Chapter VI of the Law. This is a new form of publishing activities, a new step forward of the Law, in line with the development trend of modern publishing in the world.

Articles 45 to 52 of the 2012 Publishing Law stipulate the publication of electronic publications, including: Conditions for publishing and distributing electronic publications; Methods for publishing and distributing electronic publications; Techniques and technologies for publishing and distributing electronic publications; Advertising on electronic publications; Responsibilities of agencies, organizations and individuals publishing and distributing electronic publications; Importing electronic publications... The above contents basically cover the subjects, forms, conditions, responsibilities and powers involved in the implementation and distribution of electronic publications, regulating activities arising in practice, with higher predictability and feasibility to regulate the activities of publishing and distributing electronic publications.

Lan Oanh (Department of Information and Communications)