Copyright Act, Facts Exclusion and Quotation and Press-Review Exception
Loi n° 94-36 du 24 février 1994 relative à la propriété littéraire et artistique, telle que modifiée et complétée par la loi n° 2009-33 du 23 juin 2009, arts. 1er et 11
A citation is an address, not a summary. The first part names the law; what follows narrows it to the exact section, article or paragraph.
In force since 1 March 1994.
A snippet reproduction rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 5 September 2026.
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
Article premier extends copyright to every original literary, scientific or artistic work but states that protection covers expressions and does not extend to official legislative, administrative or judicial texts and their official translations, or to the news of the day or miscellaneous facts that have the character of simple press information; a bare fact or news item is therefore never a protected work under Tunisian law, whichever outlet reports it first.
Article 11 separately authorises quotations and borrowings taken from a work already lawfully made accessible to the public, including quotations and borrowings from articles in the form of press reviews, on condition that they conform to fair practice and are justified by a scientific, educational or informational purpose, used in their original version or in translation, and accompanied by mention of the source and the author's name where it appears in the source.
The exception is not capped at a headline-length or short-extract threshold and is not confined to the press industry; whether it reaches a systematic aggregator's reproduction of headlines and snippets, as opposed to a traditional press review, has not been tested in a located Tunisian decision.
Article 51 arms a rightholder with civil damages for a breach of copyright or related rights, and article 52 sets a criminal fine of 1,000 to 50,000 dinars, doubled on repeat offence with up to twelve months' imprisonment added, for exploiting a protected work without the required authorization.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionYes
Criminal exposure note
A fine of 1,000 to 50,000 dinars for exploiting a protected work without the authorization the Law requires, doubled on repeat offence with up to twelve months' imprisonment added (art. 52).
Penalty structure
Article 52's fine for exploiting a protected work without authorization, doubled on repeat offence (to a ceiling of 100,000 dinars) with up to twelve months' imprisonment optionally added.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- 5 September 2026
- Currency
- TND
- Fixed cap
- 50,000
What it reaches
Instrument type
statute
Categories
Snippet reproduction
Obligation class
Licensing, Attribution
When LexLint raises it
aggregates_content