What is the Legal Deposit?

The Legal Deposit is the most ambitious documentary preservation system that exists and aspires to bring together everything that is published in each country.

It is supported by the obligation of publishers, self-publishing and producers to deposit copies of their publications for one or more conservation centers.

It is the guarantee that what you publish today can always be consulted. Whether it's a book, a movie, a magazine, a newspaper, a video game, a poster, a map or a bookmark, your creation today is tomorrow's heritage.

Your work is part of our history and with the Legal Deposit you make it memorable.

Citizens can always address their doubts and queries about the Legal Deposit to the email depositolegal@bne.es. We will respond to them as accurately and promptly as possible.

History of the Legal Deposit

In Spain, the history of the Legal Deposit dates back to 1616 for the Biblioteca de El Escorial and 1716 for the Real Librería Pública de Felipe V in Madrid, today the National Library of Spain. With Philip V and the Real Librería Pública, what was collected by this system was open to the consultation of professors and researchers.

The complete organization of the Legal Deposit for Spain was carried out by the Regulation of the Legal Deposit Service approved by Decree of 23 December 1957 (PDF) (BOE No. 17 of 20.1.58). This standard establishes the system of the number of Legal Deposit and management by offices of Legal Deposit, two fundamental pillars that are still in force today.

How does it work?

On 30 July 2011 it was published in the B.O.E. Law 23/2011, of Legal Deposit.

The publishers have to deal with the Legal Deposit offices located in the province in which they have their registered office. Self-editors also have the office in the province in which they have their registered office, which is usually the same office in which they are registered. The offices depend on the Autonomous Communities.

It is in these offices that publishers and self-editors have to request the numbers of Legal Deposit; this step is before the publication of their works. The offices also have to deliver the copies required by the legislation.

The Legal Deposit numbers must appear in a visible place within the publications. The request for these numbers is mandatory and free of charge.

All bibliographic, audio, visual, audiovisual and digital works, produced or edited in Spain, are subject to Legal Deposit, by any production, editing or diffusion procedure and distributed in any medium, tangible or intangible.

On July 10, 2015, the Council of Ministers approved the Royal Decree regulating the Legal Deposit of online publications. This royal decree develops Law 23/2011, of July 29, on Legal Deposit, in which websites and online publications are considered for the first time the object of Legal Deposit.

Digital publications that are not going to be distributed in physical format do not have a Legal Deposit number. The publisher or producer of websites and other restricted access online publications shall be obliged to facilitate the collection of such websites.

Law 8/2022, of May 4, amending Law 23/2011, of July 29, on Legal Deposit updates and optimizes the previous regulations to make it more appropriate and effective in the dynamic and changing scenario of the current cultural and editorial creation.

The main novelty of this law is the inclusion of digital files prior to printing books, brochures and serial publications. This advance will allow us to deepen the tasks of preserving the Legal Deposit by guaranteeing the preservation of the layout. It will also save the cost of future digitisation.

Another priority objective is to provide a tool in the prosecution of the illegal uses of these files on the Internet by applying a collaborative digital fingerprint CEDAR to the publications of all those publishers who request it.

The platform for collection of pre-print digital files is https://deposito.dl-e.es/

This Tutorial has been prepared on how to become an account and how to handle it.

Another notable novelty is the inclusion of video games in the typology of cultural creations. Previously understood within audiovisual documents, they will now have their own section to obtain the deposit of the complete edition of this documentary typology.

It also includes on-demand printing publications intended for public communication that go beyond the family sphere. These are works which are printed to respond to specific requests. Two copies are claimed for the BNE. The delivery of the digital file is not an obligation in these cases.

The Law recognises and strengthens the role of the BNE as coordinator and advisor among the regional centres and deposits, as well as its duty to monitor compliance with the regulations on Legal Deposit.

Additional information for self-publishing persons

People who publish their own works without the mediation of a professional publisher are obliged to comply with all the formalities of the Legal Deposit whenever they have their registered office in Spain.

This also includes people who self-publish their works with Amazon as Amazon is not an editorial nor does it perform editing functions.

Amazon provides distribution facilities and has its website as a point of sale; it also offers the KDP as a working tool to carve the book. But neither the dealer nor the seller is responsible for complying with the Legal Deposit. Self-publishing with Amazon is self-publishing and at no time exempts from compliance with the Legal Deposit.