Amendments on revocation of publishing licenses pass first reading

May 31, BPN. Amendments to the law on publishing have passed the first reading in the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Belarusian National Assembly.

The amendments are intended to “improve” the regulation of the publishing business, the lower house’s press office said. If signed into law, they would expand the grounds for reregistering publishers and revoking their licenses.

The Belarusian book market is already strictly controlled. For example, Andrej Januškievič, whose company published books by George Orwell, Alhierd Bacharevič and Stephen King in Belarusian, lost its license, was searched and forced to move to Poland. Several other private publishers were also suspended or closed down by the Ministry of Information.