President of Publishers Union, Jabr Abu Faris, said that Corona pandemic had exhausted the publishing sector in the Kingdom, calling upon the concerned authorities to save it from collapse, and stand beside the Jordanian publisher in order to continue his work.
He added in a statement published on Monday that the publishing sector is one of the cultural industries that has endured a lot during the past five years and lost important markets in the region and North Africa due to the political events that affected the region as a whole.
Abu Faris noted that Licensing Renewal System, specifically paragraph (b) of Article (15) of Press and Publications Law No. (9) of 2017, which states: (The license is renewed annually, and it is cancelled after 3 months from its expiry date without renewal), does not serve the publishing sector, but it rather places obstacles before it under the current circumstances, especially when a renewal fee of JOD 50 is required, although this amount is not mentioned in the above article.
He added, "If the institution delays the license renewal, the license will be permanently cancelled and the owner of the institution must submit a new application and pay new fees of JOD 500 and application fees of JOD 15."
He also indicated that the license renewal with Media Commission requires that the institution should be licensed as per a profession license issued by Greater Amman Municipality for the current year, although this requirement is not included in the system.
Abu Faris called on the concerned authorities to stand side by side with workers in this sector and review this system.