In January 2010, the Video Recordings Act 2010 (VRA 2010) came into force. This simultaneously repealed and immediately revived without amendment the Video Recordings Act 1984, in order to correct a procedural error made during the passage of the VRA 1984.
The Human Rights Act 1998 establishes the right to freedom of expression, and the BBFC has to have regard to the impact of its decisions on the rights of any relevant person. The Act, however, permits such restrictions on freedom of expression as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society. These include the prevention of disorder or crime and the protection of health and morals.
The designation under which the BBFC operates in relation to ‘video works’ obliges the BBFC to seek to avoid classifying material which is itself in breach of UK law. The relevant laws include:
The Obscene Publications Acts 1959 and 1964 which make it illegal to publish a work in the UK which is ‘obscene’. In order for a work to be found obscene, it must be taken as a whole and have a tendency to deprave and corrupt (eg make morally bad) a significant proportion of those likely to see it. If publication can be justified as being for the ‘public good’ on the grounds that it is in the interests of science, art, literature or learning or other objects of general concern, then no offence has been committed.
The Protection of Children Act 1978 makes it illegal to make, distribute, show or possess ‘indecent’ photographs or pseudo-photographs of a child (that is, someone under the age of 18 years).
The Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 makes the possession of an ‘extreme pornographic’ image a criminal offence. The Act defines such an image as one which is pornographic and grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene character and which portrays in an explicit and realistic way, an act which: threatens a person’s life; results, or is likely to result, in serious injury to a person’s anus, breasts or genitals; involves sexual interference with a human corpse; or involves bestiality. Works classified by the BBFC are excluded from this definition.
The Public Order Act 1986 makes it illegal to distribute or play to the public a recording of images or sounds which are threatening, abusive or insulting if the intention is to stir up racial hatred or hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation. Images and sounds which are threatening if the intention is to stir up religious hatred are also prohibited.
There are two Acts which cover animal welfare issues in films which the BBFC must also consider when classifying works. The Cinematograph Films (Animals) Act 1937 renders it illegal to show any scene ‘organised or directed’ for the purposes of a film that involves the cruel infliction of pain or terror on any animal or the cruel goading to fury to any animal. The Animal Welfare Act 2006makes it illegal to show or publish a recording of an animal fight which has taken place in the UK since 6 April 2007. An ‘animal’ is also defined as a vertebrate (but not in foetal or embryonic form) other than a man.
The Coroners and Justice Act 2009 makes it an offence to possess non-photographic fantasy images of child sexual abuse (ie. cartoons, drawings, computer generated images and other depictions). The Act strengthens the existing laws on child pornography to include non-photographic images of child abuse by creating an offence of possession of a ‘prohibited image of a child’.
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