Vietnam's Publishing, Printing and Distribution Authority cannot read all of the roughly 50,000 book titles published each year after they are submitted under the legal deposit system, a senior official said at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's regular press briefing on Thursday.

Responding to a question about whether authorities would return to pre-publication review instead of post-publication oversight, Dinh Tien Dung, deputy director of the Publishing, Printing and Distribution Authority, said the issue provided an opportunity to draw lessons for state management while incorporating practical experience into revisions of the Publishing Law.

Revised law aims to strengthen oversight

Dung said the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, on behalf of the government, had presented a review report to the National Assembly Standing Committee earlier in the day. The report emphasized the need for tighter oversight throughout the publishing process to ensure publications released to the public follow official guidelines and comply with Party regulations, state policies and relevant laws.

The draft law amending and supplementing several articles of the Publishing Law introduces a number of new provisions to address shortcomings identified in practice. In particular, it provides clearer definitions of publishing and its various stages, while setting out more detailed responsibilities for publishers, state management agencies, distribution businesses and publishing partners than those contained in the 2012 Publishing Law.

Limited staff, selective reviews

Addressing the question of pre-publication versus post-publication oversight, Dung said the authority remains committed to administrative reform.

"Even provisions relating to pre-publication and post-publication review were already clearly regulated under the 2012 law. However, in line with the Party's and the government's direction on administrative reform and decentralization, many procedures in the publishing sector have now been abolished or replaced with notification-based processes. This helps reduce administrative burdens, creates a more favorable environment for publishers and distributors, and reinforces their responsibility for their own publishing activities," he said.

Looking ahead, Dung said the authority plans to begin oversight earlier in the publishing process.

"In the past, publishers registered individual publications. We now plan to revise this into registration of annual publishing plans so we can understand from the outset what publishers intend to release during the year. Responsibilities at every stage will also be strengthened. From manuscript acquisition to the publication decision, the publisher's director will bear greater responsibility for content. In particular, the draft law introduces clear definitions of 'legal deposit' and 'electronic legal deposit,' concepts that were not included in the 2012 law," he said.

According to Dung, Vietnam publishes about 50,000 book titles and around 350 million copies each year, while the Publishing, Printing and Distribution Authority has "very limited" staffing, with only a handful of officials responsible for publishing oversight.

He said that after publications are submitted under the legal deposit system, the authority cannot read all 50,000 titles. Instead, books are selected based on publishers' annual registrations, with priority given to works covering politics, history, national security, defense, religion and territorial issues.

"Therefore, this inspection is essentially based on sampling," he said.

The National Assembly is expected to consider and approve the amended Publishing Law during an extraordinary session scheduled for August.

Concluding his remarks, Dung expressed hope that media organizations would continue raising public awareness of the draft law while encouraging young people to read more books, helping revive Vietnam's reading culture, which he said has shown signs of decline.

No formal appraisal council

Responding to questions about claims that books are reviewed by an appraisal council before publication, Dung said no such body exists.

"At present, there is no concept of an appraisal council. We use a reading group model, which has been maintained for many years," he said.

According to Dung, the reading group consists of experts and experienced officials in publishing and related fields. It meets two or three times each week to review selected titles, mainly publications with sensitive content or works that could affect national security, history, geography or territorial issues if errors are found.

He said the group's role is to advise state management authorities on possible follow-up actions. In cases that do not warrant administrative penalties but require revisions, the group recommends that publishers make corrections before books are released to the public.

Tinh Le