THE House of Representatives on Wednesday approved the Legal Deposit Act, 2002, which seeks to provide the legislative framework for the collection and preservation of Jamaica’s intellectual and cultural output, in its published forms, as part of the country’s national heritage.

Piloting the Bill, state minister for education, Fitz Jackson said it would repeal the Books (Preservation and Registration of Copies) Act, which was enacted in 1887.

He said the main objective of the new legal deposit law is to ensure that all materials in all formats — print, audiovisuals, including film, videos, sound recordings, electronic publications — are collected and preserved as part of the cultural heritage of the country.

“Effective legal deposit legislation, therefore, guarantees citizens and researchers within the country and abroad access to research collection on the country’s cultural collections,” Jackson said.

Under the Act, the publishers of certain materials are obliged to send to prescribed institutions a specified number of copies of all materials printed by him. Any national publisher who fails to comply with this, is liable on summary conviction before a resident magistrate to a fine not exceeding $50,000.

“It is necessary to replace this outmoded law with legislation which explicitly addresses the matter of legal deposit or works, hereby bringing Jamaica in line with accepted norms and international practices in this area,” Jackson said.

He told the House that the Bill imposed on a publisher, the obligation to deposit with the National Library of Jamaica or any other library designated as a legal depository, a prescribed number of copies of prescribed categories of documents. “Having regard to constitutional provisions regarding the right to property, compensation is payable in respect of copies so deposited,” he said.

“Another important effect is that the legislation will greatly facilitate the development and maintenance of the Jamaica National Bibliography as Jamaica participates in the movement towards a Universal Bibliography Control of Information,” according to Jackson.

“It will seek to ensure that Jamaica is not left behind in the forward march of preserving our national heritage and making our culture available in the national arena,” he added.

Delroy Chuck, Opposition spokesman on justice and member of parliament for North East St Andrew, in supporting the Bill, said it was quite appropriate, “especially if we are seeking to preserve the published works of people and the National Library is an appropriate body to receive documents”.

Said Chuck: “There is no doubt that libraries across the world have been very useful in collecting material appropriate to their particular discipline.”

But he questioned if the National Library, on a regular basis, could indicate what documents had been collected. “It’s useful because if that is documented regularly and sent around the country, especially to newspapers and radio stations, the country could get a good idea of what creative work has been put in the National Library. I don’t think it should only be a question of collecting documents and tapes and then the rest of Jamaica doesn’t know about it,” he said.

Chuck also asked what criteria were used to determine the documents to be kept by the National Library.

“There is no doubt that some books, records, tapes and newsletters should never be kept. There should be some criteria whereby the librarians can decide what books should be kept, because you’ll get an overload of material some of which are not suited,” he said.

Mike Henry, Opposition member of parliament, welcomed the Bill, but disagreed with a number of clauses. He said the Bill “tends to beam in more on the cultural need to retain materials rather than equally moving to the economic importance”.

Also supporting the Bill was Colin Campbell, the information minister. He said it was “a wonderful day for Jamaicans who appreciate creative works and who believe in the availability of such works in terms of the preservation of our heritage and culture”.

“The passage of this Bill is timely and will ensure that for the first time there is the establishment of a body of indigenous published work in Jamaica available for future generations,” he said, adding that it was “a classic piece of legislation in terms of modernising the system and making such works available.