- Decree n°94-3 of 3 January 1994 creating the Bibliothèque nationale de France (French National Library): it is the successor of the royal collections that were constituted since the end of the Middle-Ages and the major library of France;
- Decree n° 76-82 of 27 January 1976 creating the Bibliothèque publique d’information, main Parisian library; and
- Administrative order (arrêté) of 9 May 1989 (modified) creating the Scientific National Council of Public Libraries (Conseil national scientifique du patrimoine des bibliothèques publiques).
County libraries (Bibliothèques départementales de prêt, notably in charge of reading in rural areas)
- Law n°83-8 of 7 January 1983 about the repartition of competences between communes, départements, regions and the State; and
- Heritage Code, book III, title II: articles L320-1 to L320-4 and R320-1 to R320-2
Technical supervision of the State on territorial libraries
- Heritage Code, articles L310-1 à L310-6 et R310-1 à R310-3, R310-9 à R310-10; and
- General Code of Territorial Authorities, articles L1421-4 and L1421-5, articles R1422-9 and R1422-10 and article D1421-4.
Statute of the personnel of libraries (State or territorial civil servants)
- Decree n°92-26 of 9 January 1992 that specifies the different statutes and grades of library curators (conservateurs des bibliothèques, conservateurs généraux des bibliothèques), modified by decree 2010-966 of 26 August 2010;
- Decree 2011-1140 of 21 September 2011 on the staff of specialised library assistants (bibliothécaires assistants spécialisés);
- Decree 2007-655 of 30 April 2007 (art. 33 and 34) modifying decree 88-646 of 6 May 1988 on the statute of the personnel for collection management (magasinage spécialisé des bibliothèques); and
- Decree n°91-841 of 2 September 1991 on the staff of territorial library curators (conservateurs territoriaux de bibliothèques).
Fixed book price
- Law n° 81-766 of 10 August 1981 relative to book prices;
- Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Communities of 10 January 1985 (declares that the law of 10 August 1981 conforms to the European treaties); and
- Law n° 2011-590 of 26 May 2011 relative to the digital book prices.
Authors’ rights protection
- Law n° 95-4 of 3 January 1995 completing the Intellectual Property Code and relating to the collective management of reproduction and reprography rights (articles L.122-10 to L.122-12 of the Intellectual Property Code); and
- Law n° 2003-517 of 18 June 2003 relative to the remuneration proceeding from library loans, and to the reinforcement of the social protection of authors (articles L.133-1 to L.133-4 of the Intellectual Property Code). Two sources of financing are used to support the social insurances of these professions: a 6% tax on the buying price of library books, an annual fixed payment from the State, which is indexed on the amount of registrations in the library.
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