The Legal Deposit Act of Bhutan was passed in 1999 by the National Assembly to collect, preserve and manage Bhutan’s documentary heritage. The Act applies to Bhutanese citizens within and outside the country, and requires all publishers and producers to deposit or submit to the National Library & Archives four copies if the document is printed and two copies if the document is non-print (printed materials include – books, journals, magazines, newspapers; and non-print materials include – audio and visual materials) published or produced in Bhutan or related to Bhutan, irrespective of the language or script used and irrespective of format, within three months of publication or production.
However, government departments and government supported agencies will have to deposit ten copies of each document. This also applies for revised and enlarged editions of previously published works.
All resources submitted are permanently preserved as national materials for the purpose of public use as well as passing them on to future generations.
Download Legal Deposit Act (Dzongkha Version)
Download Legal Deposit Act (English Version)
Note:
Please help us in our effort to collect and preserve such materials in order to create a comprehensive National Memory Bank to benefit future generations of Bhutanese.