Legal Deposit
It consists in assigning legal deposit numbers to the bibliographic and audiovisual output of Catalonia, and collecting of copies for being preserved which can be consulted at the Biblioteca de Catalunya.
Contact details and opening times
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Legal deposit management:
- Electronic management
- Application guide for managing electronic
- Form to delivering copies [ Word ] [ PDF ]
- Delivery of electronic resources from the Internet
- Form to ask for DL numbers
The unit who takes care of it is the Legal Deposit Office. E-mail bcdl@bnc.cat
Contact details and opening times
Legal Deposit Office at Barcelona
Villarroel, 91 08011 Barcelona
34 93 270 23 00
From October 1 to May 30: Monday to Friday from 9 to14h and Monday to Thursday from 15 to17h
From June 1 to September 30, Christmas and Easter: Monday to Friday from 8.30 to14.30h
Legal Deposit Office at Girona
Carrer Ciutadans, 18 17004 Girona
34 972 22 54 18
From October 1 to May 30: Monday to Friday from 9 to15h and Wednesday from 16 to 18.30h
From June 1 to September 30, Christmas and Easter: Monday to Friday from 9h to15h
Legal Deposit Office at Lleida
Rambla Aragó, 8 25002 Lleida
34 973 279 213
From October 1 to May 30: Monday to Friday from 8.30 to 14h and from 15 to17h
From June 1 to September 30, Christmas and Easter: Monday to Friday from 8 to 15h
Legal Deposit Office at Tarragona
Major, 14 43003 Tarragona
34 977 251 472
From October 1 to May 30: Monday to Friday from 8 to 15h and Tuesday from 16 to18.30h
From June 1 to September 30, Christmas and Easter: Monday to Friday from 8 to 15h
Legal Deposit Office at Tortosa
Dr. Jaume Ferran, 4-6 43500 Tortosa
977 44 80 70
From October 1 to May 30: Monday to Friday from 8 to 15h and Tuesday from 16 to 18.30h
From June 1 to September 30, Christmas and Easter: Monday to Friday from 8 to 15h
All offices will be closed on 24 and 31 December and afternoons on January 5, April 23 (St George’s Day) and eves of local holidays.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Which works are collected under legal deposit?
Which works are excluded of legal deposit?
How is a legal deposit number?
Who should ask for a legal deposit number?
How can be done a registration as an applicant?
How can be requested a legal deposit number?
Should the serials have a different legal deposit number at each issue or volume?
Can requests be cancelled or extended?
How and where should the legal deposit number be consigned?
How many copies should be delivered?
What happens if legal deposit is not done?
How can be requested and delivered the legal deposit of electronic resources from the Internet?
How to get an exemption of delivering copies of legal deposit?
Why deposit legal is important?
Which works are collected under legal deposit?
- Books, whatever content, printing type and support, venal or not venal.
- Pamphlets between four and forty-nine pages with same features of books, including offprints from journal articles, if they are long as mentioned.
- Non-commercial printed sheets. Commercial printed sheets if they include engravings or technical texts.
- Serials (yearbooks, journals, newspapers, etc.)
- Musical scores.
- Engravings: single plates, calendar plates, stamps, stickers, Christmas postcards, artistic advertisements.
- Maps and plans.
- Advertising posters of shows, parties, public events religious or profanes; advertising posters of commercial products if they include artistic engravings or technical or literary texts, proclamations and edicts.
- Illustrated postcards.
- Playing cards.
- Slides for sale or public distribution.
- Sound recordings, whatever production method, current or future.
- Films, both argued and documentaries, filmlets, shorts.
- Videos and digital videodiscs (DVD).
- Software
- CD-ROMS, whatever content (monographs, databases, games, etc.)
- DVD s, whatever content.
- Electronic resources distributed through the Internet, and that can be compared with a printed equivalent: books, journals, newspapers, annual reports and yearbooks, business or institutional reports and musical scores ...
Which works are excluded of legal deposit?
- Stamps.
- Religious orders publications for internal use.
- Social or private printings, invitations to weddings or baptisms, obituaries, visiting cards, identity cards, diplomas, unless they include artistic engravings or literary texts.
- Commercial printings without artistic engravings or technical or literary texts.
- Forms.
- The following electronic resources at the Internet: email lists, DSI, RSS services, portals, web pages, blogs, social networks (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), databases, class notes for teaching, online games or advertisements, calendars of events.
The direction of the Biblioteca de Catalunya will decide when in doubt.
How is a legal deposit number?
It has following elements
- The words "Legal deposit" or "Depósito Legal".
- The initial of each province:
Barcelona: B.
Girona: GI.
Lleida: L.
Tarragona and Tortosa: T.
- The deposit number assigned by the office.
- The year when deposit is done in Arabic numerals. For Christmas postcards and other printings it can be substituted by an order number in Roman numerals, if the inclusion of the current year is not desirable. I is for 1958, II for 1959 and successively (XLIV is for 2001).
Examples:
Dipòsit Legal B. (number)-2001
Depósito Legal B. (number)-XLIV.
Who should ask for a legal deposit number?
It is the printer for printed books. It can be also requested by the publisher or by the author itself if there is not a commercial printer or publisher. For sound works, films or electronic works, it should be the producer, publisher, duplication firm or manufacturer. If there are several of them involved, is the one which is responsible of the main part, anyway, the rest of them are not exempted of subsidiary responsibility.
How can be done a registration as an applicant?
At the nearest Legal Deposit Office, presenting the following:
- Form 036 of Census Declaration or IAE payment receipt
- A commercial card with the entire address
- NIF of the organization
How can be requested a legal deposit number?
- Going at the legal deposit office, when the work is almost finished.
- By phone, identifying yourself with your personal code, unless they are copies pending of delivering since more than three months.
- By web. A password is needed, which is assigned by legal deposit offices
Copies should be delivered before of two months since the request date
Should serials have a different legal deposit number at each issue or volume?
Yearbooks. It is assigned a single legal deposit number which will be printed at each volume, even if they have different ISBN numbers.
Journals and newspapers. It is assigned a single legal deposit number, even if frequency changes.
Numbered Series. If they are individual works, each work will be considered as a single work, unless they are volumes of a unitary work, in which case will be assigned the same legal deposit number for all the volumes.
Can requests be cancelled or extended?
If a work is not published after two months since the request of legal deposit number, it must apply for an extension or inform of cancellation. Extension only is for two months more. After this period, the office can start a proposal of sanction, if it has not receipt any new notification.
How and where should the legal deposit number placed?
- In books and pamphlet it should be placed in the same sheet of the ISBN number, on the back cover or on the half-title. Without this requirement, works will not be admitted at the legal deposit offices.
- In newspapers and journals it should be placed in the header. When journals have a format and cover such as of a book, it should be placed on the back cover or on the half-title.
- For all other printings, the legal deposit number should be consigned in an easily visible place.
- In postcards, stickers or stamps, the legal deposit number should be printed on the back. It will be assigned one number for each model, even if they are joined forming a serial, if it is physically possible to separate them without damage.
- In discs (Audio, CD-ROM, etc.), the legal deposit number should be placed on the label or in the middle of the plate, and on the cover of each disc. The manufacturer should provide the legal deposit number to the printer of the bag or container, if the manufacturers of disc and container are not the same.
- In cassettes, the legal deposit number should be placed on the cassette and on the cover
- The films, filmlets and shorts should exhibit the legal deposit number in an easily visible manner
- In disks and computer software, the legal deposit number should be printed on the disk and the container, if there is one.
- The volumes of a unitary work will have the same legal deposit number for all volumes, even if their ISBN number is different. If all volumes are not printed at once, printer of first volume has the responsibility of requesting a legal deposit number. Then, he will communicate it to the publisher, who must give it to successive printers of the rest of volumes. After legal deposit number it should be added the ordinal of volume in Roman numbers and between parentheses.
Example:
Legal deposit B. (number) -1999(I)
Legal deposit B. (number) - 1999(II)
- Offprints from journals with own pagination will have the same number of the publication in which the text was originally published. It should add “Sep” between the initials of the province and the legal deposit number.
Example: Dipòsit Legal T- "Sep".(number)- 1999
- Legislative serials that are successively publishing supplements of interchangeable sheets -which are also under Legal deposit-, will have the same legal deposit number of the basic publication. The legal number should be placed on the folder or on the book band.
- Will be assigned new legal deposit numbers to second and successive editions of a work.
How many copies should be delivered?
- Once a work is ready and before of its distribution or selling, they should be delivered:
- 5 copies of works with ISBN.
- 4 copies of works without ISBN.
- 3 copies of sound recordings
- 2 copies of films
- 2 copies of Braille editions
Copies will be delivered together with the delivery form filled.
In the case of works published under pseudonym, it should be stated the author's real name on the delivery form.
Discs, sound recordings and videos
In the case of sound recordings, they should be stated the master and the ISRC number or the record label after the title.
Films
In the case of films, they should be delivered two copies of technical card, two copies of artistic card, two copies of screenplay and two photographs of main sequences of film.
Newspapers
Daily newspapers can be delivered twice a month.
Defective copies
Defective copies will be returned to be replaced by new ones without defects.
What happens if legal deposit is not done?
It is an infraction. They are infractions:
Publishing a work without legal deposit number.
Publishing a work with a false or incomplete legal deposit number.
Do not make the delivery of copies
Do not communicate the postponement or cancellation of a work,
If a printer (manufacturer, duplicator, etc.) commits any infraction, he can be subject to sanction. The Legal deposit Office will communicate him that he must make the delivery of copies or respond in his defence, within one month.
If after a month the office does not receive response, a disciplinary action should be taken against him. The head of the Office will send a notice to the applicant notifying the start of the action together with a statement of charges that should be answered within eight days.
After eight days since the start of the action, if the Legal deposit Office has not received any response or the defense submissions are not enough, the Office will sent the Proposal of sanction to the firm.
The publisher, the seller or the distributor should be in solidarity with the printer when they are in possession of copies without legal deposit number or copies which have not made ??the deposit.
Any false statement or omission or, in general, any omission or breach of any of the rules will be punished by a fine that can reach five times the retail price of the work. This does not presuppose the exemption of criminal responsibility.
In case of recidivism, the fine can be raised until to exceed twice the value of the first sanction.
The imposition of the penalty does not exempt from the obligation to establish the legal deposit.
Against the imposition of fines, may be submitted legal appeals according to established law.
How can be requested and delivered the legal deposit of electronic resources from the Internet?
The electronic resources distributed at the Internet or any other network should have legal deposit, too.
Before requesting the legal deposit numbers for these electronic publications, applicant should be registered.
The legal deposit number should be requested before of distribution, that is, before the document is available to the public at the Internet.
For electronic periodical publications, a unique legal deposit number for all the issues of the same title should be requested. Changes of publisher, format or URL will not imply a new legal deposit number. It only should be request a new legal deposit number when there is a significant change in the title.
The publisher or producer will have the responsibility of requesting and make the delivery of the electronic publications.
If a publication has a paper or any other media version (CD-ROM, microfilm, etc.), and an electronic version at the Internet, it should be requested a new legal deposit number for the electronic one. In fact a different legal deposit number is needed for each media.
Following, the instructions to the delivery of electronic documents:
Electronic resources of open access
The publisher/producer should fill all data on the request form of legal deposit, and also add:
- Entire URL under ISBN field for monographs, and under ISSN field for serials
- Requirements of consultation, if it applies.
- The form will be delivered at the Offices of Legal Deposit before of the document distribution.
- The legal deposit should be consigned at the Internet in an easily visible place
- Once the electronic document is distributed, it should be delivered ONE copy of it on DVD, CD-ROM or USB, and in PDF format, as far as possible.
- In case of a periodical publication, ONE copy of each issue or new edition should be delivered, always together with the data mentioned above.
Electronic resources of restricted access
Apart from all the data mentioned above, when a document is of restricted access, should be consigned the user/password at the form, after the URL.
Any change of the user/password or identification should be communicated.
It is also recommended to notify any URLS change.
How to get an exemption of delivering copies of legal deposit?
The publisher is who can do it.
It can be requested an exemption of two copies in case of works without ISBN, and three copies for works with ISBN. In any case, two copies should be delivered at least, which will be preserved at the Biblioteca de Catalunya and the Biblioteca Nacional of Spain.
To get the exemption, the publisher should address a letter to the Director of the Biblioteca de Catalunya, which can be sent at any of the Legal deposit offices at Catalonia.
Should be included the following data:
- Name of the publisher firm who is requesting for the exemption
- The title of the work for which the exemption is requested.
- Legal deposit number assigned to the work.
- Reason of the exemption (price, special features, etc.)
- Number of copies for which the exemption is requested (one, two or three)
Why is Legal Deposit important?
The bibliographic and cultural heritage of Catalonia is formed with copies collected under Legal deposit, otherwise all these works would not be at the national libraries, which are responsible by law to ensure its preservation for the future (Law 4 / 1993 of March 18, of the Library System of Catalonia).
Legislation
Until 31 December 2011 remain in force the following laws :
- Ministerial Order of 30 October 1971, approving the Reglamento de régimen Interior del Instituto Bibliográfico Hispánico
- Ministerial Order of 20 February 1973, rectifiying some articles
- Royal Decree of transferences 2210 of 7 Setember 1979
- Llei 4/1993 del Sistema Bibliotecari de Catalunya, of 18 March 1993
As of 1 January 2012 shall come into force a new Legal Deposit Law, passed on last 30 July 2011