Publications Law in Laos
Book-Café Vientiane (retail sales) and Lao Insight Books (publishers),
Head of the British Trade Office to Laos, until closure in 2004.
Author of twenty books on Thailand and Laos, including both Culture Shocks, Thailand Beyond the Fringe, Thais Mean Business, The Hmong, The Lao, Laos, cultural guides to six countries, and two published novels
After one year of deliberation, May 2009 saw the quiet introduction of a publications law to the Lao PDR. The law confirmed procedures already established but until now often ignored by the few individuals, agencies, or companies that sought to publish in the country. The introduction of the law coincided with the advent of a new service: an ISBN may now be requested and granted by the National Library in Vientiane.
The law requires publishers or their agents to obtain authorisation to publish from the Ministry of Culture and Information in Vientiane. Publication may be in any language and should normally be granted within three days if the book does not denigrate the Lao authorities or their institutions. All books are required to follow this procedure, whatever their size and target readership; there are no diplomatic exceptions and anything from a child’s Lao-language reader to an academic treatise must be submitted for the ministry’s decision.
There has been some discussion as to whether the new law will cause delays if the current low publication rate grows beyond the capacities of the Ministry of Culture to review all books submitted. There is also some concern that publishing will simply take place, or continue to take place, in neighboring Thailand. However, the effects of the new law have yet to be seen, and while the law can be viewed as a strengthening of censorship, it could also be seen as Laos putting in place one of the laws to equip it for membership in the WTO, expected within the coming year. Laos is already a signatory of WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation) and is gradually putting its house in order, in much the same way as other ASEAN members, to join fully the international community.
The publishing law can perhaps best be seen as part of the development of Laos, which has signed a surprisingly large number of international protocols and agreements in the past few years. Such laws are now usually discussed within the National Assembly—the ‘Parliament’ of Laos—which has been growing in importance and which is popularly elected.
With printing innovations now making the language of publication almost irrelevant, Laos, with its continued multi-species forests, small population and open spaces, is in an excellent position to expand its publications industry. This will require the confidence of foreign publishers, who would certainly find it cheaper to set up in Laos, and it will require continued improvement of its export industry, for which landlocked Laos requires its neighbours’ seaports, particularly that of Thailand. Given that modern printing is not labour intensive, an expansion of publishing could increase work opportunities for the young population, increasingly computer-literate, while providing additional paid work for the semi and unskilled.
Several private printers already exist, and one or two of them are beginning to see themselves as publishers, with staff capable of all the skills that go into making a book. If this trend continues, publishing could become another revenue earner for the government. It all depends on how the new law is interpreted and implemented by the Ministry of Culture.