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 UNITED NATIONS

TO: Members of the staff

FROM: The Under-Secretary-General for Conference Services and Special Assignments

Subject: REGULATIONS FOR THE CONTROL AND LIMITATION OF DOCUMENTATION Addendum COPYRIGHT IN UNITED NATIONS PUBLICATIONS: GENERAL PRINCIPLES, PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE INTRODUCTION

1. The present instruction sets forth guidelines on the Organization's policy towards copyrighting, granting permission to reproduce or translate its publications and documents or extracts therefrom, and towads using material copyrighted in the name of others in United Nations publications or documents.

2. The United Nations does not normally retain copyright, considering that policy best suited to facilitating the dissemination of its publications as widely as possible. The general retention of copyright could give the impression of restriction and of setting up a procedural barrier, namely, the need to request permission to use the material. Exceptions to the general practice have, however, been made in the case of the publications listed in the annex to the present instruction. The decisions in those cases were taken by the Publications Board in the belief that there was a need to impose a measure of control on certain types of United Nations material in order to ensure that it was used in the best interests of the Organization.