romeng

The Legal Background of the Book Sector in Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans and Central Asia

ROMANIA

Excerpts Of Texts From Laws Relevant To The Book Sector Translated Into English

Article 30 Freedom of expression
(1) Freedom of expression of thoughts, opinions, or beliefs, and freedom of creativity in word, in writing… in public are inviolable.
(2) All censorship shall be prohibited.
(3) Freedom of the press also involves the freedom to establish publications.
(4) No publication may be suppressed....

Article 31 The right to information
(1) A person's right of access to any information of public interest cannot be restricted.
(2) The public authorities, according to their competence, shall be bound to provide accurate information on public affairs and matters of personal interest... to citizens.

Article 30
…(5) The law may impose the obligation to publish the source of finance of mass media.
(6) Freedom of expression shall not be prejudicial to the dignity, honour or privacy of the person, or the right to one's own image.
(7) Any defamation of the nation or the state, any instigation to a war of aggression or to national, racial, class or religious hatred, any incitement to discrimination, territorial separatism or public violence, as well as any obscene conduct contrary to morality shall be prohibited by law.
(8) Civil liability for any information or creation made public falls upon the publisher or producer, the author, … the owner of the copying facilities, … under the terms laid down by law. Indictable offences of the press shall be established by law.

Article 31 The Right to information
… (3) The right to information shall not be prejudicial to the protection of the young or to national security.

Law no. 35/1994 regarding the literary, cinematographic, theatrical, musical, folkloric and plastic arts stamp

Art.1 – The six categories of stamp duty that constitute the object of the present law are established as follows:

a) the literary stamp duty represents two percent of the selling price of a book and it shall be added to this price;…

The literary stamp duty shall be levied on each sample/copy of a literary book published, whether in Romania or not, and sold in whatever kind of shop.

Art. 2 –The received amount representing the value of the stamp will be transferred each month to the accounts of the creators, according to the methodological standards established by them and in collaboration with the Ministry of Finances.

If there is more than one organisation of creators in a cultural domain the amount will be assigned in the favour of the legally constituted organisation, in conformity both to the Decree-Law no. 27/1990 as well as the creators, holders of the copyrights and their successors. For classical works or translations with expired copyrights, the producer will decide the recipient of the stamp duty…

Each organisation of creators is obliged to create a financial organism for the stamp duty.

c) promoting activities with the participation of the Romanians from outside of Romanian territory…

Art. 4 – The sums derived by the application of all these stamp duties are not liable to tax.

Regarding the perception, cashing, transfer, use, evidence and control of the destination of the amounts of money resulted from literary, cinematographical, theatrical, musical, folkloric and plastic arts stamp duty

1. … The parties that pay … are obliged to transfer to the organisation of creators the sums of money derived from cashing in the previous month which represent the value of the stamp duty. The money must be transferred by the 20^th of every month, with the exception of December for which the deadline is 31^st January…

The organisation of the bookkeeping and the manner of relating the incomes and expenditures concerning the budget of the literary… stamp duty, through the bookkeeping report

1. The paying parties that cash the categories of stamp duty shown in the Law 35/1994 must demonstrate in their own bookkeeping the equivalent of these, as follows:

- the independent administrations and commercial companies - regardless of the form of propriety of the social capital - to the credit of account 447 "Special Funds - taxes and assimilated transfers"…

- the family societies which exercise activities of commerce and the other physical persons who have the status of merchant, in the "Register of cash and payments", on a distinct raw, "Sums of money cashed for literary stamp duty" …:

- the public institutions which are financed from the state budget, from extra budgetary resources, the organisations of creators, as well as other organisations - to the credit of account 231 "Creditors"…

1. According to the statements of Art. 1, paragraph a) from the Law 35/1994 … the literary stamp duty will be determined by applying two percent to the selling price of a book and adding it to this price.

2. The literary stamp duty will be levied on fiction (prose, literary critic, poetry, theatre, books for children, memoirs, essays and other works), classic works or translations from the public domain, published in Romania or not.

3. In the case of a book which is issued in one or more volumes, and where the price may or may not be the same for each volume, the literary stamp duty will be calculated on the selling price and added to that price, as established, and in this manner the same or differently from volume to volume.

4. To books published as boxed editions containing several components and having a unique selling price, the value of the literary stamp duty will be two percent of the selling price for the whole box and will be added to this.

5. All patrimonial parties, physical or juridical persons, regardless of the form of propriety of the social capital, who publish and import works of fiction in order to sell them in Romania must calculate the value of the literary stamp duty and print it on every copy and add it to the selling price. The denomination, the bank and the account of the union of producers chosen by the publisher, author or his heir shall also be printed on the book.

Example:
1.000 lei selling price
__ 20 lei TL Union (Society), BankAccount no., .
1.020 lei

All parties, physical or juridical persons, regardless of the form of propriety of the social capital, who sell works of fiction published in Romania or imported, must transfer to the organisations of creators the amounts of money representing the value of the literary stamp duty. For this, they will mention, in an Appendix to the disposition of payment, the title of the work, the number of copies sold, the selling price and the amount of money cashed for the literary stamp duty.

The wholesaler can not cash the value of the literary stamp, except where the item is sold to physical persons or to parties that do not intend to resell it…

Decree-Law 27/1990, concerning the organisation and functioning of the unions and associations of writers, plastic artists, composers, cinematographic and theatrical creators

Art. 1 – Writers, plastic artists, composers, cinema and theatrical creators may found professional unions or associations on a legal basis in correspondence to their creative particularities and the stipulations of the present laws...

For the approval of the methodological Norms for the manner of financial support, as commanded by the State, of editorial programs and cultural publications

We consent to the methodological Norms regarding the manner of financial support, as command from the State, of editorial programs and cultural publications, an integral part of the present Order.

The Department of Financial Resources and Development and the Department of Written Culture and Libraries will take the necessary measures for the carrying out of the present Order.

For the approval of the methodological Norms for the manner of financial support, as commanded by the State, of editorial programs and cultural publications

We consent to the methodological Norms regarding the manner of financial support, as commanded by the State, of editorial programs and cultural publications, an integral part of the present Order.

The Department for financial resources and development and the Department for written culture and libraries will take the necessary measures for the carrying out of the present Order.

For the manner of financial support, as commanded by the State, of the editorial programs and cultural publications

1. … the present methodological norms regulate the manner in which financial support can be offered for editorial programs and cultural publications, as commanded by the State.

2. In order to ease the access to information and culture, to promote Romanian cultural values domestically and abroad, the Ministry of Culture may offer financial support for editorial programs and cultural publications, so that the cultural act may become available to people it is designed for.

3. Depending on the necessities of a certain period of time, the Ministry of Culture may establish certain priorities, as following:

c) republishing the classics of national literature (critical, current or scholarly editions)

4. The National Committee for the endorsement of the editorial programs and cultural publications which are commanded by the State, funded by Order of the Minister of Culture no. 2021/1997, hereinafter called The Committee, is the organism qualified to analyse and to endorse proposals from editors who intend to publish books or periodicals which may claim financial support.

5. The programs of the Ministry of Culture in the field of written culture will be brought to public knowledge. The announcements will contain the deadline for offers and requests, so that the granting of funds may be made according to the law.

6. The publishing houses and cultural publications interested in financial support will submit proposals to the Ministry of Culture, as well as requests for financial support. The offers and the requests will be collated by the Department for Written Culture and Libraries in the Ministry of Culture, which will pass them to the Committee for analysis and endorsement.

7. The Committee will analyse proposals from publishing houses and cultural publications and will propose the granting of financial support, as commanded by the State, in a public auction, by selecting the proposals or by direct committing, if necessary, according to the Law and to the Appendices 4 and 5.

8. The proposals that are endorsed by the Committee will be forwarded for approval to the Minister of Culture.

9. In order that publishing of the works or cultural publications takes place effectively, the Ministry of Culture, through the Department for Written Culture and Libraries and through the Department of Financial Resources, will draw up written agreements with the publishing houses and cultural publications, … following endorsement by the Minister of Culture.

10. The agreements made with publishing houses and cultural publications must contain certain clauses, so that, in the event that a publishing house or cultural publication does not respect the terms of the agreement, the prejudices created by the blocking of public funds can be entirely recovered.

11. The agreements may also contain clauses with details of the stages of its completion, so that compliance with the terms of the agreement can be verified at any time.

12. No agreement can be made over a longer period of time than one fiscal year, unless its object is a part of a cultural program or project, … and the requested funds have been allocated to this purpose.

13. After the agreements are signed, the publishing houses and the cultural publications will be able to receive funds in advance in accordance with the law.

14. For the accomplishment of the terms of paragraph 7., the publishing houses and the cultural publications will forward to the Committee all the technical and financial details, necessary for the comparison of offers and for the establishment of the quantum of the financial support, as tables of pre-calculation….

15. If the amount approved by the Committee is smaller than requested, it can give approval for the publishing houses or the cultural publications to adjust the selling price of the works/publications, with the amendment that the publishing houses or cultural publications retain the initial print run. The remaking of the prices must cover the difference between the amount of money requested and the amount of money approved and must be found in the tables of pre-calculation, as well as in the tables of post-calculation.

16. When the agreement has expired, or if the terms of the agreement are entirely accomplished, the publishing houses and the cultural publications will forward to the Ministry of Culture the tables of post-calculation, such as the one described in Appendix no. 3

17. If with good reason the terms of the agreement can not be complied with as initially established, any of the parties may propose to the other(s) the modification of the title of the book/publication, of the print run or of the selling price, but this can not lead to an alteration of the quantum of the financial support from the Ministry of Culture as initially established.

18. The agreement will be considered to have been accomplished when the publishing houses or the cultural publications have forwarded to the Ministry of Culture, the Department for written culture and libraries at least one copy of the book/publication, together with the tables of post-calculation, so that compliance with the terms of the agreement can be verified.

19. The final discount will be made on basis of the publishing houses and cultural publications forwarding the tables of post-calculation, together with copies of explanatory documents – invoices from printing houses and/or for materials and/or copyright – which cover the amount of money approved as financial support, according to the terms of the law.

Publishing Legislation Online Project (PLOP)