in Jordan: Based on UNESCO’s Media Development Indicators, these provisions are widely respected in practice.40 8. Applying the Rules A number of provisions in the Press and Publications Law create special enforcement rights or responsibilities. Thus, Article 31(b) gives the Director the power to stop the importation or distribution of foreign publications which breach the provisions of the Law, or to limit the number of imports, provided he or she submits an urgent case to the court to validate this action. Pursuant to Article 33, the Director may still allow government institutions, universities, and scientific research centres to import these banned materials for research purposes. According to Article 36(a), where the owner or manager of a printing press becomes aware that a court has banned any printed matter, he or she shall stop printing that material. Article 31(b) is problematical inasmuch as it gives a government official the power to exercise what amounts to prior censorship over foreign printed material, although the impact of this is limited by the fact that the action needs to be ratified by a court on an urgent basis. It would be preferable, however, simply to undertake the action via an urgent court decision in the first place. Amendments to the Law in 2007 replaced the system of prior censorship for books with a system whereby the Director may, “by a decision of the court”, ban a book and confiscate any copies if he or she “discovers” that it violates a law (Article 35(b)). According to UNESCO’s Assessment of Media Development in Jordan: Based on UNESCO’s Media Development Indicators, 1278 books were banned between 1955 and 1987, while 52 were banned from the beginning of 2013 to August 2014.41 Formally, inasmuch as this system requires an order of the court to ban a book for breaching the law, it is broadly in line with international standards. However, it is unclear why the Director should have the power to initiate a court action against offending publications, rather than the normal prosecutorial authorities. Furthermore, banning a book is an extreme measure which should only be applied for serious breaches of the law. The very large number of books being banned, which over 2013 and 2014 represented an average of over 30 per year, raises questions about the way the system is applied and may suggest that the Director is less restrained in bringing cases than the prosecutorial authorities might be. Given the extremely serious consequences of banning a book, great restraint should be applied in using this provision. 40 Note 7, p. 60. 41 Ibid., p. 90. Jordan: Analysis of the Press and Publications Law, 1998, as Amended - 26