SECTOR 1 Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: 3.0 1.5 Print publications are not required to obtain permission to publish from state authorities. Article 22 of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s 1996 Law subjects written publications to a system of registration (regime de declaration). In practise, the situation is otherwise. In actual fact, this disposition of the law is circumvented by means of a regulation by the Ministry of Communication, which requires a receipt issued in exchange for payment of US$500 at the time of this “registration” of a publication and US$200 every two years for the renewal of the receipt. In practise, this receipt issued by the Ministry of Communication, ultimately is the document, which grants a newspaper the right to publish, and not the declaration. Therefore, this is a case of an ‘authorisation scheme’ with inspections linked to its renewal. Despite these dispositions, it should be noted that there is an explosion of newspapers. 78 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER Democratic Republic of Congo