New Press & Registration of Periodicals Act, 2023 comes into force

The government has notified the historic Press & Registration of Periodicals Act (PRP Act), 2023 and its Rules in its Gazette and consequently the Act has come into force from March 1, 2024.

As per 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 title before publishing it. 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.

From now on, the registration of periodicals shall be governed by the provisions of the Press and Registration of Periodicals Act (PRP Act), 2023 and the Press and Registration of Periodicals Rules. As per the notification, the office of Press Registrar General of India – PRGI (erstwhile Registrar of Newspapers for India - RNI) shall be carrying out the purposes of the new Act.

The Press Sewa Portal ensures paperless processing and offers services with e-sign facility, digital payment gateway, QR code-based digital certificates for instant download, 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 Press Sewa portal is accompanied by a new website with all the related information and a user-friendly interface. 

Earlier, Anurag Singh Thakur, Minister of Information and Broadcasting, had launched the Press Sewa Portal, the online portal of the Press Registrar General, for receiving various applications as mandated by the new Act. The steps involved in the registration of Periodicals through the new Press Sewa Portal are as follows:

1. Signing up and profile creation by the owner of a periodical
2. Simultaneous submission to Press Registrar General and the specified authority in the district
3. Invitation to the publisher/s by the owner
4. Signing up and online intimation by the printer (owner/keeper of printing press)
5. Signing up and profile creation by the publisher
6. Selecting/nominating the printer by the publisher
7. Periodical registration application to be submitted by the publisher
8. Correction window after submission of application
9. Acknowledgement with a unique Application Reference Number
10. Online Payment of registration fees through Bharatkosh
11. Revision of registration details