buying is ok - selling is not
Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2003 9:06 pm
If you buy a video whether it be inside the UK or from elsewhere as a private individual then subject to the video not being obscene you can bring it into the UK. There is no law that says that you have to buy an R18 video, the law says that's all you can sell.
Neither the police or customs can say what is obscene they can only put to a jury a video which they believe to be such.
If you visit Amsterdam and buy a hardcore video and bring it back through customs then they can take the video from you and test it for obscenity by way of Sec 3 or Sec 2 of the Obscene Publications Act.
If you bought a video by mail order from Amsterdam then the contract is made in the UK and just as with cigarettes this is distance selling and then they could sieze the video - even if it was by Walt Disney, because no certification exists.
A bit far fetched but I'm trying to keep this short.
In short the offence is selling not buying. Children and Animals would not normally come into the equation as these would be prosecuted under different Acts and rightfully so.
A good book to read is Obscenity, by Geoffrey Robinson which will give you an in depth account of all matters regarding porn.
Neither the police or customs can say what is obscene they can only put to a jury a video which they believe to be such.
If you visit Amsterdam and buy a hardcore video and bring it back through customs then they can take the video from you and test it for obscenity by way of Sec 3 or Sec 2 of the Obscene Publications Act.
If you bought a video by mail order from Amsterdam then the contract is made in the UK and just as with cigarettes this is distance selling and then they could sieze the video - even if it was by Walt Disney, because no certification exists.
A bit far fetched but I'm trying to keep this short.
In short the offence is selling not buying. Children and Animals would not normally come into the equation as these would be prosecuted under different Acts and rightfully so.
A good book to read is Obscenity, by Geoffrey Robinson which will give you an in depth account of all matters regarding porn.