Ban on Danang publishing house to end today

A three month ban on the Danang publishing house (Nha xuat ban Da Nang) is scheduled to end today, March 15. It was imposed by Vietnam's Ministry of Information and Communications because of "severe mistakes" made in publishing a book by Vu Ngoc Tien and Le Mai titled Rong Da (Stone Dragon). Under the order issued Dec. 12, the publishing ban was to last from Dec. 15 to March 15, and after this probation period the publishing house would have to apply to the ministry for authorization to resume publishing. In addition, according to the International Publisher Association, "the Ministry of Information and Communication would have also decided to 'discipline' all of the Da Nang staff deemed responsible for the publishing of Rong Da. The staff of this publishing house under licence since 1984 would also have been replaced by new staff."

The suspension was protested by Bjorn Smith-Simonsen, Chair of IPA’s Freedom to Publish Committee, who noted that the 29th IPA congress held in Seoul in May 2008 passed a resolution urging Vietnamese authorities to allow freedom of publishing in their country.

Source: IPA press release, Feb. 20. See also letter of Vu Ngoc Tien to Danang publishing house, Nov. 17, 2008; BBC Vietnamese News Service Nov. 18.