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But a bloke in Hull recently took his local David Sullivan shop to Trading Standards for just that reason - passing softcore off as hardcore. I believe it went to court. Anyone know what happened?

Under the OPA the judge may not direct the jury as to what he believes may or may not be obscene. The jury must decide for themselves whether they feel they have been corrupted.

If the judge in an OPA directed a jury (as per Oz) then the verdict will be set aside as unsound.

When a Sec 2 or Sec 3 trial takes place there has never been a case where the buyer has been brought to court too.

I read this thread after posting mine and I would agree that this is legally sound.

Giles, I'm following you here but possession of uncertified material is not against the law as you may well have in your possession an uncertified copy of the Jungle Book by Walt Disney.

Confusion arises due to the fact that the OPA and the VRA are 2 totally seperate Acts.

If you buy an R18 video that does not mean that the video has passed the obscentity test under the OPA.

However, it is unlikely that the courts would file action against you as the BBFC would be in the dock with you.

The VRA is, under British Law us no defence under the OPA as you may well have sold the R18 video to a person who was corrupted.

The fact that a consumer has taken a person to court is a totally seperate issue. This is the Sales Of Goods Act and the fact of the matter is that the goods were - not as described.

packages from holland and the scandinavian countries are, in most cases, stopped and searched by C&E. This is because, these countries STILL (secretly) produce and ship, what is referred to as 'child erotica'. IN FACT, in the late 70's and early 80's (the '10 year madness'), child erotica was very, very available from these countries.

The likes of 'rodox' were heavily involved in child erotica. Such material was never easily available from the US or elsewhere and so C&E dont usually bother with packages sent from the US. It is mostly scandinavia and the eastern bloc countries (such as ukraine), they bother with.

I KNOW these things as my mate's younger brother has been working at C&E in Liverpool for the past 5 weeks as part of his studies and he has been told to get the full story by his big brother!