The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has notified the BBFC of a serious issue which has come to light in relation to the Video Recordings Act 1984 (VRA). Because the then British Government failed to notify the European Commission under the Technical Standards and Regulations Directive (83/189/EEC) of the Act, the VRA is no longer enforceable against individuals in the United Kingdom.
In these circumstances and for the time being, the information on the BBFC's website should be read in the light of the DCMS's notification.
The Government has set in train the actions necessary to remedy this situation as soon as possible and, as part of that process, have notified the Commission of the new draft Act and the Labelling Regulations deriving from it.
The Government has made clear to the BBFC that, once the process of re-enacting the VRA is complete, all video classification certificates issued by the BBFC since 1984 will be valid, and the legal consequences of non-compliance with the classification regime will be re-instated and enforced as vigorously as previously. Any video recording containing an unclassified video work which has been released in the interim period will need to be withdrawn from sale once the new Act is in force, unless the work can claim exemption.
The Government has therefore urged the industry in the interim to comply with the provisions of the VRA on a voluntary and best practice basis. The BBFC will continue to classify video works submitted by distributors on a voluntary basis for this period.
Welcome to www.bbfc.co.uk
– the official website of the British Board of Film
Classification, the independent regulator of the film and video
industry in the UK.
Designed to keep the public and the industry informed about the work of the
BBFC, this website includes up to the minute information about
classification decisions; the policies and Guidelines used by the BBFC
when classifying a work; how to submit a film, DVD or video game
for classification as well as information about the BBFC.
The BBFC has three other websites. A website specially for parents, www.parentsbbfc.co.uk, provides in depth information about the content of films, DVDs and games. Parents and
teachers of children aged 5-12 years and younger may like to visit the
BBFC’s children’s website - www.cbbfc.co.uk.
www.sbbfc.co.uk
is designed for students and teachers involved in the study of media
regulation and film and anyone interested in film classification.
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