RNI REGISTRATION: PROCESS, CERTIFICATE, FORM, APPLICATION STATUS

RNI stands for Registrarof Newspaper for India and registration with RNI in India is mandatory if you participate in newspapers, magazines, or even book publications. All of these things are regulated by the Press and Book Registry Act of 1867. It is the same law that led to the creation of the RNI.

If you are also involved or planning to enter a business related to the publication of such documents, you must have registered the RNI before opening your business to the public.

Most people visit their attorney to check the details of these records, and they pay a lot of fees to get this information, but today we will provide all the information for free in this article.

Let's start with brief information about RNI, then let's talk about the required documents and the RNI registration process.

RNI registration and other details

We have already shared the complete RNI form and we have also told you that it is mandatory to receive the RNI registration to publish the magazine. This registration must be requested from the Chancellor of the newspaper and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Control is responsible for it.

There are three main functions that RNI performs, and these are the main functions:

·         Issuance of a registration certificate for the newspaper.

·         Maintenance of the RNI database

·         Examination of broadcasting complaints.

·         This is all the possible information about RNI. Now let's examine the types of documents required for RNI registration.

Documents required for registration of RNI

In this section, we have listed the details of the basic documents required for RNI registration. Depending on your case, you may need additional documents. Contact RNI for more information. The general documents are

§  Editor's Statement

§  Form 1

§  RNI letter

§  Details of the contract between the owner of the magazine and the owner of the printing press.

§  Details on the first issue of the magazine.

§  Copy of the first issue of the magazine.

§  Printer contract

§  Publisher information with ID

§  Proof of address

RNI registration process

The RNI registration process is quite long. To help you understand the process, we have divided this section into several substeps. In this way, you can understand the process and easily perform the RNI registration

Step 1 – Sharing Details of Title for Periodical

It should be noted that you must provide the details of the periodical. This includes details like the name of the newspaper and other such information. This also ensures that there is no deviation in the future and the approval of District Magistrate is provided based on the details provided in this step. The details that you would be needed here are– Complete Name of the Newspaper or Periodical

§  Details of the owner including the name

§  The language being used for publication

§  The frequency of the publication

§  Area of distribution of the periodical

All this information should be submitted along with the filled form. The form is to be submitted to the District Magistrate.

Step 2 – Verification of the Details

In this step, the district magistrate will verify all the details that have been provided by you. After the verification of the details, the application form will be forwarded to the RNI and once that is done, the RNI will issue you a letter of verification. This would also provide you with a confirmation if the title for the publication is available or not. If in case, the title is not available, you will have to choose a new title.

Once that is done, you will be asked to submit another declaration and the form can be obtained from RNI. Fill in the form and provide the declaration.

Step 3 – Validation of Declaration Submitted

You are now one step away from the final step and in this step, you will have to present the declaration to the District Magistrate once again. You can only share the details here once the declaration has been validated by RNI. It should be noted that two different declarations will be required if the publisher is different from the owner of the printing press.

Step 4 – Publication

As per the rules and regulations, you need to publish the first copy of the periodical. The time frame for this is 42 days and this means that you need to get the first copy published within 42 days since the completion of Step 3. This time frame is true for the periodicals where the frequency is daily or weekly. If the frequency is lower then the time frame is 90 days.

If you are not able to publish the periodical in the given time then you would be liable to file another declaration form. This would have to be done before you publish the periodical. Also, the time frame will remain the same again.

Once the first issue of the periodical is published, the certificate of the registration will be issued. This takes about 2 weeks and it is only issued after the verification is complete. You must note that there are many criteria for verification. Also, you would need to have a copy of a declaration from the Magistrate to get the RNI. One of the critical criteria remains to be the initial information submitted by you. There should be less or almost no variation in the language, distribution area, and the title of the publication. Any variation might stall the process for you and you might not get the RNI Registration certificate.

These were all the details about RNI Registration. The process is easy to follow and you should not face any issues. In case of a problem, feel free to escalate the issue and get the resolution.