On closure three separate sets of legislation come into play at once: press legislation, labour legislation, and the press card and official announcement rules.
1. Press Legislation: What Happens to the Declaration?
Art. 9 of Law No. 5187 lays down a period of forfeiture: if the periodical is not published within one year of the date the owner filed the declaration, or if publication is interrupted for three years after it has begun, the declaration becomes void and the right it conferred lapses.
| Situation | Consequence |
|---|---|
| No publication for one year after the declaration | The declaration is void |
| Publication interrupted for three years | The declaration is void |
| Trade mark rights | The provisions of Decree-Law No. 556 are reserved |
2. Labour Legislation: Employee Notifications
The urgent notifications are here. Art. 9 of Law No. 5953: the making of the contract by the employer, and its termination by the terminating party, are notified within fifteen days by declaration to three places:
- The Regional Directorate of Labour
- The civil administration
- The journalist's union if they are a member, otherwise the professional organisation with the most members
3. Sums to Be Paid
Art. 18 of Law No. 5953 governs the case of a publication closing specifically. We cover it in the staff pay on closure guide. The likely items on closure:
| Item | Basis |
|---|---|
| Severance pay | Law No. 5953 Art. 6 |
| Notice period / compensation | Law No. 5953 Arts. 5, 6 |
| Pay for untaken annual leave | Law No. 5953 Arts. 21, 29 |
| The annual bonus | Law No. 5953 Art. 14 |
| Unpaid wages and overtime | Law No. 5953 Art. 14, Add. Art. 1 |
4. The Press Card Side
Art. 15 of the Press Card Regulation treats the performance of the notification duty in Art. 36, where there is a change in workplace and/or title, as a condition for newspapers and magazines. The end of activity also concerns that notification chain.
There are consequences for employees too: a post-linked press card is issued to media members working attached to a media outlet (Law No. 5187 Add. Art. 1). When the outlet closes, the free press card route may come into play; under Additional Art. 1 a free press card is issued to media members temporarily not working.
5. The Official Announcement Side
The right to publish official announcements depends on regular publication. The definition of regular publication in Art. 4 of the Press Card Regulation gives a measure: publication made, save for force majeure, without interruptions exceeding fifteen issues in a year for daily periodicals, six for weekly periodicals, three for fortnightly periodicals, one for monthly, bimonthly and quarterly periodicals, and a total of two days for news and photograph agencies.
We cover the lapse of the right in the publication gap guide.
Closure Checklist
- Make the employees' termination notifications to the three authorities within fifteen days (Law No. 5953 Art. 9).
- Work out severance, notice, leave and bonus with your accountant.
- Make the workplace/title notification to the Directorate of Communications (Reg. Art. 36).
- If you hold the right to official announcements, notify the Press Advertising Agency branch.
- If you are an internet news site, keep retaining the two-year archive - the retention duty in Art. 10 does not end when publication stops.
- If there are records subject to a judicial notification, keep them until the proceedings conclude.
- If you are interrupting publication temporarily, put the three-year period in the calendar (Law No. 5187 Art. 9).
Summary
- No separate closure declaration is provided for; the declaration becomes void of itself when publication is interrupted for three years.
- The urgent notifications are on the employee side: terminations are notified within fifteen days to the Regional Directorate of Labour, the civil administration and the union.
- On an internet news site the two-year archive duty does not end with closure.