Legal Deposit System and Publications in Electronic Form

The system of legal deposit in Russia, which dates back to the Decree of Catherine the Great in 1783, has passed a long historical path and currently has an appropriate legislative basis. In 2016, the Federal Law № 77-FZ of 29.12.1994 “On the Legal Deposit Copy of Documents” was supplemented, among other things, by the regulation on the legal deposit of printed publications in electronic form. Taking into account the Russian legislation, the Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS Member States adopted in November 2021 Recommendations on establishing common approaches to the submitting of legal deposit of printed publication in electronic form in the CIS member States. Our country has accumulated the experience of implementing the amendments and additions adopted in 2016. On the one hand, the users who have access to the collections of the Russian State Library (RSL) have the opportunity to work with documents that have been received by the RSL from a number of publishers and other copyright holders and placed in the National Digital Library. On the other hand, many Russian document producers still do not send legal deposit copies of their printed publications in electronic form to the RSL, citing the fear that users may resort to illegal copying of electronic files.The author discloses the actions aimed at ensuring the rights and interests of both library users and copyright holders. The Government of the Russian Federation has submitted to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation the Draft Law on the abolition of the existing procedure obliging document producers to deliver the legal deposit of printed publication in electronic form to both the RSL and the Russian Book Chamber. The Draft Law provides for the delivery of corresponding electronic file only to the RSL.