Legal deposit applies to all publications:
- published in Belgium;
- published abroad by authors of Belgian nationality and domiciled in Belgium.
Legal deposit is compulsory as soon as you offer the publication to the public, even if it concerns:
- a limited public, for example members of an association;
- publications distributed free of charge;
- publications without an ISBN;
- publications with a limited edition or “print-on-demand” (POD).
Legal deposit applies to publications in several formats: printed publications, including microfilms, as well as documents published on physical digital media (DVD, CD, CD-ROM, USB key or floppy disk).
Digital publications (like e-books) are currently only deposited on a voluntary basis, pending a Royal Decree bringing the law of 8 July 2018 into force.
In terms of the length of works, legal deposit applies to non-periodical publications of at least five pages, not including the cover pages. These may include :
- collections of texts, photographs, artistic or scientific plates consisting of single sheets compiled under a single cover;
- geographical and other maps with printed text;
- picture books;
- …