Open Government [Matthew's Journal]

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It seems that the UK screwed up, and so the Video Recordings Act 1984 is currently unenforceable (and will be for 3 months, while we formally notify the EU). The Minister for Culture and Tourism, Barbara Follett MP, wrote to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, telling him this, and advising him to try and suppress this information. Wikileaks has the letter here.

ETA Beeb article

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There are 9 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

If Mary Whitehouse was alive today she'd be spinning in her grave. Or something.

I'm surprised the (old) EEC needed to be formally notified. It's not as if the video nasties moral panic was low profile and I thought they might have noticed. I vaguely remember it myself and I was 5 when the video recordings act was passed. I can even just about remember going to a video rental place at the time, although I was just interested in cartoons.

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Yeah - I was hoping that 25 years on, the moral panic over video nasties may have subsided (especially as most of the "banned" list have now, I believe, been legalised in recent years anyway). Though it seems that most of the press are still going with the "but now porn can be sold to children" angle.

I liked this article - the only mainstream article I've so far seen that covers the "video nasties" history of the law.

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Thanks for the link - I knew about the Video Recordings Act balls-up, but wasn't aware of the letter.

Heaven forbid, adults might end up seeing something they shouldn't!

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*snicker*

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It's obviously mad that failure to notify the European Commission should render an Act of Parliament unenforceable, but what exactly is wrong with trying to keep a lid on that while the situation is sorted out, in order to avoid people taking advantage of a loophole caused by an adminstrative error?

Would you prefer that the government shouted from the rooftops, 'for three months you can sell any videos you like to anyone you like'?

S.

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Why is it mad? We agreed to free and open trade, and agreed to notify the EEC about laws that conflict with that.

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They don't have to shout it from the rooftops - just not keep it secret and pretend something is illegal when it isn't. I think it's fair that people should know what is legal and what is not. I suspect that most film producers and shops will continue to use and abide by age ratings voluntarily, as happened before 1984, and as has long been the case for computer games, and I'm not sure there's much for anyone to gain advantage from.

The main taking advantage that I see is that British film retailers could be able to sell films to adults under the same standard that EU retailers do - i.e., films that were banned, or uncut versions. I'm not sure what harm comes of that. Plus people could have always just bought it from abroad, or downloaded it. I don't know that producers or shops will take advantage of even that anyway, as this'll likely be a short term thing.

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So should all loopholes be published similarly, so that people can take advantage of them before they are closed? Tax loopholes?

S.

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I believe HM Revenue and Customs have bizarre retroactive powers to declare tax loopholes never to have existed after they are pointed out.

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Matthew's Journal

Open Government

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October