NEWSPAPERS

1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Newspapers Ordinance.

2. No person shall print or publish, or shall cause to be printed or published, any newspaper in Sri Lanka until there shall have been delivered at the office of the Registrar of Books and Newspapers a written declaration substantially in the form set out in the Schedule to this Ordinance, specifying the title of the newspaper to which the same shall relate, and a true description of the house or building wherein such newspaper shall be intended to be printed and published by, for, or on behalf of, the proprietor thereof, and also the true name, addition, and place of abode of every person who is intended to be a printer or to conduct the actual printing of such newspaper, and of every person who is intended to be the publisher thereof, and of every person who shall be a proprietor of such newspaper; and every such declaration shall, subject to the provisions of subsection (1) of section 8, be made before some District Judge, and signed by every person named therein, as printer, publisher, or proprietor of the newspaper to which such declaration shall relate; and whenever and so often as any printer, publisher, or person conducting the actual printing of such newspaper named in such declaration shall be changed or shall change his place of abode, and whenever and so often as any proprietor named in such declaration shall be changed or shall intend departing from Sri Lanka, a declaration of such change as aforesaid, or of such intended departure from Sri Lanka, shall be made before a District Court, and delivered into the office of the Registrar of Books and Newspapers, and also whenever and so often as the title of any such newspaper, or the printing office, or the place of publication thereof shall be changed; and if any person shall knowingly and wilfully sign and make any such declaration, in which shall be inserted or set forth the name, addition or place of abode of any person as a proprietor, publisher, printer, or conductor of the actual printing of any newspaper to which such declaration shall relate, who shall not be a proprietor, printer, publisher, or conductor thereof, or from which shall be omitted the name, addition or place of abode of any proprietor, publisher, printer, or conductor of the actual printing of such newspaper, contrary to the true meaning of this Ordinance, or in which any matter or thing by this Ordinance required to be set forth shall be set forth otherwise than according to the truth, or from which any matter or thing required by this Ordinance to be truly set forth shall be omitted, he shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction after summary trial before a Magistrate, be liable to imprisonment of either description for a term not exceeding one year, or to a fine not exceeding one thousand rupees, or to both such imprisonment and fine.

3. If any person shall knowingly or wilfully print or publish, or shall cause to be printed or published, or shall, as a proprietor or otherwise, sell or deliver out any newspaper relating to which such declaration as aforesaid, containing such matters and things as are required by this Ordinance to be therein contained, shall not have been duly signed and made and delivered when and so often as by this Ordinance is required, or any other matter or thing required to be done or performed shall not have been accordingly done or performed, every person in any such case offending shall, on conviction thereof, forfeit for every such act done the sum of five hundred rupees for every day on which any such newspaper shall be printed or published, sold, or delivered out before or until such declaration shall be signed and made and delivered, or before or until such other matter or thing shall be done or performed, as by this Ordinance is directed.

4. All such declarations as aforesaid shall be filed and kept in the office of the Registrar of Books and Newspapers in such manner as the Minister may direct for the safe custody thereof, and copies thereof, certified by the Registrar of Books and Newspapers to be true copies, shall be delivered to any person requiring the same upon payment of the sum of one rupee and fifty cents and no more ; and in all proceedings, civil or criminal, and upon every occasion whatsoever touching any newspaper mentioned in any such declaration, or touching any publication, matter, or thing contained in any such newspaper, any certified copy of such declaration as aforesaid shall, on proof only of the signature of the Registrar of Books and Newspapers certifying the same, be conclusive evidence of the truth of all such matters set forth in such declarations as are hereby required to be therein set forth, and of their continuance respectively, in the same condition to the time in question, against every person who shall have signed such declaration, unless it be proved that previous to the publication in question on such trial such person did duly sign and make a declaration that such person had ceased to be a printer, publisher, or proprietor of such newspaper, and did duly deliver the same at the office of the Registrar of Books and Newspapers, or unless it shall be proved that previous to such occasion as aforesaid a new declaration of the same or a similar nature respectively, or such as may be required by law, was duly signed and made and delivered as aforesaid respecting the same newspaper, in which the person sought to be affected on such trial did not join; and whenever a certified copy of any such declaration as aforesaid shall have been produced in evidence as aforesaid against any person having made and signed such declaration, and a newspaper shall afterwards be produced in evidence, instituted in the same manner as the newspaper mentioned in such declaration is instituted, or wherein the name of the printer and publisher, and the place of printing, shall be the same as the name of the printer and publisher and the place of printing mentioned in such declaration, or shall purport to be the same, whether such title, name, and place printed upon such newspaper shall be set forth in the same form of words as is contained in the said declaration, or in any form of words varying therefrom, it shall not be necessary for the plaintiff, informant or prosecutor in any action, prosecution, or other proceeding, to prove that the newspaper to which such action, prosecution, or other proceeding may relate was purchased of the defendant, or at any house, shop, or office belonging to or occupied by the defendant, or by his servant or workman, or where he may usually carry on the business of printing or publishing such newspaper, or where the same may be usually sold.

5. In any suit, prosecution, or proceeding, civil or criminal, against any printer, publisher, or proprietor of any newspaper, service at the house or place mentioned in any such declaration as aforesaid as the house or place at which such newspaper is printed or published, or intended so to be, of any notice, summons, subpoena, rule, order, writ, or process of what nature so ever either to enforce an appearance, or for any other purpose whatsoever, shall be taken to be good and sufficient service thereof respectively upon and against every person named in such declaration as the printer, publisher, or proprietor of the newspaper mentioned in such declaration.

6. At the end of every newspaper, and of any and every supplement sheet thereto, shall be printed the Christian name, surname, and place of abode of the printer and publisher of the same, and also a true description of the house or building where the same is actually printed and published respectively, and the day of the week, month, and year on which the same is published ; and if any person shall knowingly and wilfully print or publish or cause to be printed or published any newspaper or supplement sheets wherein the several particulars aforesaid shall not be printed, or wherein there shall be printed any false name, addition, place, or day, or wherein there shall be printed any description of the place of printing or publishing such newspaper which shall be different in any respect from the description of the house or building mentioned in the declaration required by this Ordinance to be made relating to such newspaper as the house or building wherein such newspaper is intended to be printed or published, every such person shall on conviction thereof forfeit for any and every such offence the sum of two hundred rupees.

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10. Provided always that nothing in this Ordinance contained shall extend to the Government Gazette, or to any Proclamation, notice, or other public paper printed and published by authority of Government, or to any papers containing only lists of prices current, or the state of the markets, or accounts of the arrival, sailing, or other circumstances relating to merchant ships or vessels, or advertisements of a commercial or like nature, or advertisements previously published in the Government Gazette.

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