Law No. 106 of April 15, 2004, regarding the legal deposit of documents of cultural interest, aims at public enjoyment and preservation of memory through the deposit, at specially identified institutions, of what is published or circulated in Italy.
The person obliged to make the legal deposit is the publisher (or otherwise the person responsible for the publication); the printer, takes over only in the absence of the publisher.
According to Article 1 of the Law, “documents intended for public use and usable by reading, listening and viewing, whatever their technical process of production, edition or dissemination, including documents intended for use by the handicapped, are subject to compulsory deposit.”
These are specifically:
- Printed matter: books, pamphlets, periodical publications, geographical and topographical maps, atlases, posters, printed music
- sound and video documents: sound recordings (musical or otherwise), image recordings, and audiovisuals in general (including on digital media)
- graphic art and video artist
- Photographic documents (photographs) intended for publication
- films (including on digital media)
- Microforms (on photochemical support, such as film)
- documents on computer media in general (e.g., cd-rom)
They are excluded from the delivery obligation:
- abstracts, such as fascicles containing a journal article or part of a book, which are printed separately using the same composition, excluding extracts of printed music
- drafts
- records and forms
- lists of promissory notes and similar documents
- cadastral maps
- Ordinary and minute advertising materials for trade
- photocopies
- Typewritten or printed matter produced by computer for personal use
- educational materials for training courses, for internal use
- thesis
- Interim editions, in case the final edition is published
- publications by foreign publishers (even if printed in Italy)
- Articles, pending publication, printed in-house or at the University exclusively for competition purposes
| Please note: In cases where notices of university competitions provide for the legal deposit of this type of document, it must be sent by registered mail, the receipt of which will be proof of delivery |
For more information:
bu-to.depositolegale@cultura.gov.it
Documents to be filed
The legal deposit obligation is fulfilled with the delivery of two copies for the National Archives of Editorial Production (located at the National Central Libraries in Rome and Florence) and two more copies for the Archives of Regional Editorial Production (the depository libraries were identified by the Decree of the Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities of December 28, 2007).
For publishers based in the Piedmont Region:
| Type of documents | Regional Archives | National Archives |
| Books, pamphlets, periodical publications, geographical and topographical maps, atlases, posters, printed music, including in computer media | No. 1 copy to the National University Library in Torinon. 1 copy to the depository library in the province of reference | No. 1 copy to the National Central Library of Rome No. 1 copy to the National Central Library of Florence |
| Sound and video documents | No. 1 copy to the National University Library of Turin | No. 1 copy to theCentral Institute for Sound and Audiovisual Heritage |
| Graphic art and video artist’s documents. | no. 1 copy to the National University Library of Turin | No. 1 copy to theNational Institute for Graphics in Rome |
| Photographic documents | no. 1 copy to the Cinema Museum of Turin | No. 1 copy to theNational Institute for Graphics in Rome |
| Films registered in the public register of cinematography kept by the SIAE, subjects, treatments and screenplays | No. 1 copy to the Cinema Museum of Turin (for film works in film, a new positive copy conforming to the negative must be deposited. For works in video or digital format, a copy in the original projection and broadcast format must be deposited) | No. 1 copy to the Cineteca Nazionale in Rome |
Regulations
- Law No. 106, April 15, 2004
Rules concerning the legal deposit of documents of cultural interest intended for public use (Official Gazette No. 98, April 27, 2004) - Presidential Decree No. 252, May 3, 2006
Regulation containing rules on legal deposit of documents of cultural interest intended for public use (Official Gazette No. 191, Aug. 18, 2006) - Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities Decree of December 28, 2007 identifying depository institutions (Official Gazette No. 38, February 14, 2008).
- Piedmont Regional Council Resolution No. 38-6128, dated June 11, 2007, in which the institutions designated for the preservation of published documents in Piedmont are identified.
Please note that some clarifications concerning the application of the Regulations have been published by the General Directorate for Books and Cultural Institutions at http://www.librari.beniculturali.it/ and http://www.bibliotechepubblichestatali.it/.
Brief guide to sending documents to the National University Library
Documents should be delivered to the Library directly or sent by any other means within 60 days of their publication (see Art. 7 – Presidential Decree 252/2006).
For periodicals, mailing may be cumulative in accordance with agreements between the National Central Libraries in Rome and Florence and the periodical press trade associations.
The documents sent should be marked “copy out of commerce for legal deposit for the purposes of Law No. 106 of April 15, 2004” (see Art. 10 – Presidential Decree 252/2006).
The documents are to be enclosed in packages that must bear on the outside the words, “out-of-commerce specimens for legal deposit for the purposes of Law No. 106 of April 15, 2004,” and the name or company name of the person obligated to deposit and his or her domicile or registered office (see Art. 10 – Presidential Decree 252/2006).
Inside each envelope must be included, in two copies, a list of the material sent in which are listed for each document, the elements necessary for its identification.
The Library, after ascertaining the contents of the envelope, if it has found no irregularities, shall return, duly endorsed, one of the copies of the list sent. This copy shall constitute a receipt and shall be retained by the person concerned.
Where the postal service is used, the legal filing obligation is deemed fulfilled by delivery to the relevant offices of the envelope containing the material subject to legal filing (see paragraph 6, Article 7 – Presidential Decree 252/2006).
Forms
In order to make the arrangements for legal filing uniform, a number of forms have been developed and are recommended to be used for document delivery.
The forms, in Word and Excel formats, differ according to the type of documents submitted:
It is essential that the form, correctly filled out in both electronic and manual formats, is always included in the relevant package.