
Ryan Morgan stars in DreamBoy USA
I couldn’t let today pass without mentioning the Video Recordings Act 1984. This is the UK Act of Parliament which governs the mandatory classification of UK films by the British Board of Film Classification, and their supply to the UK public. It’s significance to the British porn industry is the fact that it prohibits the supply of any R18 (porn) films to any consumer outside of a licensed sex shop. Sex shop licences are enormously expensive, and provide a significant source of revenue to local government.
The Act was originally passed in 1984 as a reaction to public panic about ‘video nasties’. The then Conservative government failed to notify the European commission of the act, as they were required to do. This error remained undiscovered by successive governments, and was only uncovered in 2009. So, for 25 years, the Video Recordings Act has been an unenforceable piece of legislation. During that time there have been numerous prosecutions under the Act, with hundreds of thousands of pounds in fines paid to H.M. Treasury.
The Department of Culture, Media and Sport have attempted to cover their blushes of shame with bluster that past convictions under the act cannot be overturned. But it doesn’t take Rumpole of the Bailey to work out that you can’t be prosecuted under an Act that isn’t legally enforceable. I would imagine that the 1600 or so victims of this debacle would have a very strong claim. I have to say, though, that I don’t have a lot of sympathy for those individuals. Many are the fly-by-nighters who undermine our business by pirating our films and selling them under the counter in unlicensed shops.
Left in the comedy situation that anyone could now legally sell porn to anyone (including children) in the UK, the Government acted with uncharacteristic swiftness to re-enact the legislation. It whizzed through Parliament without amendment, and had its third reading yesterday. Today it gains Royal Assent, and becomes law for the first time since it was first written in 1985. Let’s hope that some highly-paid civil servant remembers to tell Brussels this time around!