At the North Carolina State Publications Clearinghouse, we occasionally are asked about the cost statements that must appear on state publications: What information should be included? Where should the statement be placed? Is there are a required font size?
Cost statements are required on all state publications, according to North Carolina General Statutes Section 143-170.1. This section contains the legal requirement for the cost statement:
“(a) Every agency of this State publishing a public document, other than one published for the principal purpose of sale to the public, shall cause the following statement to be printed adjacent to the identification of the agency responsible for the publication:
`(Number of copies) copies of this public document were printed at a cost of $____, or $____ per copy.’
For the purposes of this Article the term ‘cost’ shall include printing costs in the form of labor and materials, and other identifiable design, typesetting, and binding costs.”
The section does not require a particular font size or location, other than “adjacent to the name of the agency responsible for the publication”. On publications received by the Clearinghouse, we notice that cost statements are often located at the bottom of the first or last page of a publication, in a font that is either the same size as the main text or slightly smaller.
For example, the 2010/2011 edition of the Guilford Technical Community College General Catalog puts the cost statement in the bottom right corner of the last page of the table of contents. The statement is printed in the same font size as the table of contents.
Another good example is in the North Carolina Department of Revenue’s North Carolina’s State and Local Taxes 2010, published in both paper and digital forms:
If you have further questions about cost statements on North Carolina state government publications, please contact the North Carolina State Publications Clearinghouse at 919-807-7465 and we will be glad to help!
