Urgent: 3,000 riyals fine and an investigation committee… new rules for preserving intellectual production

The rules aim to determine the procedures that must be followed when violating the provisions of the deposit system, including imposing fines, detecting and verifying violations, and taking appropriate legal measures by the competent committee, while ensuring the rights of concerned parties to complain about the decisions issued against them in accordance with the regulations.

She stressed the importance of strict adherence to the provisions of the deposit system and its executive regulations, and strictly following up on their implementation to preserve, organize, document and publish national intellectual production in a way that enhances the Kingdom’s position in the cultural and knowledge field.

Categories covered by the provisions of the rules

The new rules include all entities and individuals concerned with the deposit process, as they have specified The library has multiple categories subject to application of the system, the most prominent of which are authors who deposit their intellectual or artistic works, including translators, investigators, editors, and producers, as well as printers whose names appear on works, and publishers, whether they are governmental, private, or non-profit entities.

The rules also include universities, colleges, and institutes within the Kingdom that permit scientific dissertations, and annexes. Saudi cultural abroad with regard to letters from Saudis, in addition to every natural or legal person whose production meets the description of the information vessels covered by the provisions of the deposit system.

Committee to Consider Deposit Violations

The rules stipulate the formation of a specialized committee to look into deposit violations by a decision of the Board of Trustees of the King Fahd National Library, which includes at least three members, including an advisor. A legal person with experience in the work of control committees and systems related to the library’s work.

The committee is granted broad powers to review, investigate, and make appropriate decisions, provided that the term of membership is three years, subject to renewal. Membership ends in several cases, including death, inability to adhere to duties, breach of the confidentiality policy, or the provision of an apology or exemption. In the event of appointing a replacement member, his membership shall be Complementing the term of the previous member.

The rules included appointing a secretary for the committee from among the library’s employees who would undertake important organizational and administrative tasks such as documenting the committee’s decisions, following up on their implementation, coordinating with the concerned departments, and communicating the decisions to the concerned parties, without having the right to vote.

Mechanism of the committee’s work and meetings

The committee holds its meetings at least once. Monthly, additional meetings may be held when needed or at the request of two of its members. Meetings may be held remotely via telephone or video media, and it is permitted to invite specialists or representatives from outside the committee to attend the meetings without the right to vote.

In the event of a conflict of interest for any member, the rules require it to be disclosed and recorded in the minutes of the meeting while preventing him from participating in the discussion or voting on the matter. The relevant item. The rules also stipulate that the committee’s decisions are issued by a majority, and in the event of equal votes, the side with which the committee chairman votes will prevail.

Organizing the minutes and decisions of the committee

The rules require that the committee issue official, signed minutes that include the names of the members present, the violator’s information, a summary of the incident, and the regulatory documents on which the decision was based.

They are authenticated. From the Secretary-General of the Library, and the rules authorized the Committee to seek the assistance of relevant government agencies to carry out some tasks when needed, after the approval of the Secretary-General.

Powers of the Committee

The Committee for Reviewing Deposit Violations has comprehensive supervisory and executive powers, the most prominent of which are reviewing violations of the deposit system and its regulations, applying the provisions of the rules, and verifying the commitment of authors, publishers, and those covered by depositing Required copies on the specified dates, and following up on the implementation of decisions in coordination with executive departments.

The committee is specialized in studying the reasons for the occurrence of violations, whether resulting from negligence, negligence or intentionality, and works to follow up on arrears in undeposited information containers, in addition to providing recommendations for developing the deposit system and its regulations and proposing improvements in operations and services.

In the event of repeated violations, the committee has the right to recommend addressing the relevant authorities to take additional measures related to authorship or publishing licenses, in order to ensure complete discipline in implementing the system.

Violations and fines

The rules set a mechanism that stipulates penalties in the event of violating the deposit system, starting with the notification of the violation and then imposing a financial fine that does not exceed It exceeds 3 thousand Saudi riyals, with the possibility of doubling it in the event of a repeat violation.

Article Seven also stipulates that fines are imposed upon the expiry of the period specified in the violation notice, which is 30 working days from the date of the notice, with an initial value of 500 riyals, and the fine is doubled if payment is not made within an additional 30 days, provided that the matter is referred to the competent authorities in the event of continued refusal to pay. All fines collected are deposited in the account of the King Fahad National Library.

Appeal against decisions and the enforcement mechanism

The rules confirmed that the committee’s decisions enter into force after the approval of the Secretary-General of the Library, and in the event that the decision is not implemented within the specified period, the library has the right to raise the matter to the competent authorities to take the necessary legal measures.

The rules grant the right of grievance to anyone against whom a decision was issued. The violation shall be filed before the Board of Grievances within 60 days from the date of notification of the decision, with the possibility of submitting recommendations to the Board of Trustees to make future amendments to the rules whenever necessary, provided that they are officially approved before they take effect.