Registration of newspapers, periodicals goes online via Press Sewa Portal

Registration of newspapers and periodicals is now a click away as the new law has replaced the colonial era Press and Registration of Books Act dating back to 1867.

The government has notified the Press and Registration of Periodicals Act (PRP Act), 2023, and its Rules in its Gazette and consequently the Act has come into force from March 1, an official statement said.

From now on, the registration of periodicals shall be governed by the provisions of the PRP Act and the Press and Registration of Periodicals Rules.

According to the notification, the office of the Press Registrar General of India (PRGI) shall carry out the functions of the erstwhile Registrar of Newspapers for India.

The new Act provides for an online system for facilitating the registration of newspapers and other periodicals in the country.

The new system replaces the existing manual, cumbersome processes involving multiple steps and approvals at various stages which were causing unnecessary hardships to the publishers, an official statement said.

Earlier, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur had launched the Press Sewa Portal (presssewa.prgi.gov.in), the online portal of the Press Registrar General, for receiving various applications as mandated by the new Act.

All applications, including the intimation by the printer of a periodical, application for registration of facsimile edition of a foreign periodical, application by a publisher for obtaining a certificate of registration of a periodical, application for revision of certificate of registration, application for transfer of ownership of periodicals, furnishing annual statement by the publisher of a periodical, and procedure for desk audit for verification of circulation of a periodical will be online through the Press Sewa Portal.

The Press Sewa Portal ensures paperless processing and offers services with an e-sign facility, digital payment gateway, QR code-based digital certificates for instant download, an online system for providing intimation by printing presses, percentage of probability for title availability, online access to registration data for all publishers, filing of annual statements, among others.

It also intends to put in place a chatbot-based interactive grievance resolution mechanism.

The new PRP Act removes books and journals from the purview of registration necessitated by the old PRB Act.

The new Act defines a periodical as "any publication including a newspaper which is published and printed at regular intervals containing public news or comments on public news but does not include a book or a journal of scientific, technical, and academic nature."

Therefore, a "book, or a journal including a book or journal of scientific, technical and academic nature" does not require registration with PRGI.

According to the new Act, all applications for registration of periodicals shall be made in online mode through the Press Sewa Portal only.

Accordingly, publishers intending to bring out periodicals need to register their titles before publishing them.

As the registration process will be online and guided through the software, the chances for discrepancies in the application will be drastically reduced resulting in faster processing of applications, the statement said.

The status of the application will be updated at all stages and the same will be informed to the applicant through SMS and email ensuring transparency and eliminating delay due to miscommunication, it said.