ABSTRACT
The French regulations on legal deposit are for material ‘offered to the public for sale, distribution, or hire or transferred for reproduction or distributed in French territory’. Legal deposit in France is based on the law of 21 June 1943 and the decree dated 21 June 1943 modified and completed by the decree dated 21 November 1960. On examining the French laws two purposes of legal deposit emerge clearly, though they are unstated. The first is the preservation of the nation’s culture, the second censorship. Although the French laws are the most exhaustive of any country under study, no mention of the Bibliotheque nationale’s responsibility for preserving the legal deposit collection, or of making it available to the public, has been made. Sanctions can be applied for contravention of the laws and these can result in a 3000 franc fine for the first offence and 10 000 francs for subsequent violations.
