egafd.com

I've been visiting this forum on and off for around a year and started visiting more regularly recently, about the time someone called IV was on here talking about shutting down UK suppliers of porno. Someone I know is getting ready to sell videos over the web with a UK dispatch. I questioned the legality of this and he didn't seem to know what I was on about, saying that the recent change in UK law would allow him to do this quite legally.

I also seem to recall that Phil McC mentioned recently that he would be selling his videos online soon with dispatch from abroad.

Could someone please clarify to me the current state of play in the UK with regard to sales.

Cheers.

BTW - great website.

Videos containing sex have to be passed by the film censor, and if passed 18R (ie hard core) they may only be sold in a licensed sex shop. If not passed, they cannot be sold anywhere or anyhow within Britain.

However, Customs may not intercept an 18R video that is sent in from outside the country, so it is legal for an outfit in Calais to post an 18R video to a British address, but not for a British-based outfit to do so.

Justice and logic a la Jack Straw

If any of the above is wrong, no doubt somebody will soon post a correction.

Regards

As I understand it customs may intercept videos, but should allow them through if the video would conform to the bbfc guidelines for R18, i.e. if they are coming from outside the country whether they are actually classified or not is not the issue. This should also apply to videos from the US, according to various postings here and in the newsgroups, but what actually happens in practice I couldn't say.

In any case it is definitely illegal to sell hard core videos by mail order from within the UK whether R18 or unclassified.

Again the above is subject to correction by legal experts. I am only going by postings I have seen.

Thanks for that Callipygea.

I thought the same but doubted my own sanity at the absurdity of it all when trying to explain it to him. Are there any documents available online to confirm this stance by the home secretary?

All info is appreciated.

Cheers.

Speaking of IV... has anyone heard anything from him/them lately? Not that we want them back or anything just haven't seen a posting in a while.

The source is the law, the Video Recordings Act, as amended from time to time by Parliament in its wisdom. The easiest way to look up any law in its updated form is to go to the library and read Butterworths. This gives the law as it stands; ie the original Act plus/minus subsequent amendments and deletions.

In addition to the law there are the BBFC guidelines (see their site) plus lots of anecdotal evidence about what Customs are up to. A good source for this is the Melon Farmers site. Both are easy to find, try this link: http://www.bbfc.org.uk/

Alec says that Customs "should" let in any videos that "would" conform to the BBFC guidelines, whether certificated or not. No doubt he is correct, but note my italics. An R18 cert will (or should I say "should") prevent any arguments.

Finally, this site and Alt Fan TelevisionX also carry messages on this topic.

I'm not particularly knowledgeable about the law, but my understanding is as follows:

It is legal for a UK company to sell R18 certified videos (from licensed premises only (it's illegal to sell them to UK customers by mail order, I think they can be sold to customers abroad.)

It's illegal for a UK company to sell uncertificated videos (to UK customers) by any means.

(the rest is a repost from my posting in this thread)

The odd thing is that you can legally sell R18 vids (or ones which match the R18 guidelines via mail order if you do it from a
foreign country (ie if the company receiving payment is registered abroad (or at least receives payment via an address in a foreign country.)

To do this, the actual product could be produced and distributed in the UK, and need never leave these shores, I think. The legality seems to hinge on whether the orders are sent to a uk address or a foreign address.

I can't see that this situation will last very long, because it's so obviously stupid.

Corrections to the above from the more legally astute are welcome!

joey wrote:

> .............The odd thing is that you can legally sell R18 > vids (or ones which match the R18 guidelines via mail order if > you do it from a foreign country (ie if the company receiving > payment is registered abroad (or at least receives payment via > an address in a foreign country.)
>
> To do this, the actual product could be produced and
> distributed in the UK, and need never leave these shores, I
> think. The legality seems to hinge on whether the orders are
> sent to a uk address or a foreign address.
>
Two points here. The first is that there was a case last year in which somebody was successfully prosecuted for supplying videos through a foreign-registered company. As I recall, the court held that the foreign company was controlled from here by the defendant, and therefore he was in effect the supplier.

The second point is that whoever actually does the physical part of the distribution in this country (if only by going to the Post Office) could be held to be "supplying" videos illegally, and thus be prosecuted.

I am not aware that the latter point has been tested in court yet, but no doubt that is only a matter of time.

Of course, it would be interesting to see if the HUmna Rights Act might have any bearing on such an absurd anomaly.

Thanks for that information/correction. Anyone know who got prosecuted? (Just wondering if it's a company that is known to this bbs.)

There was a prosecution of someone who was distributing for Your CHoice (I think - I can't be bothered to go over to and check) in a similar circumstance to the second point, but this was before the customs and R18 guidelines were changed. (In any case, I guess there is some stuff available from Your Choice that would not meet these guidelines...)

It all goes to show you should always get proper legal advice, before embarking on such a venture. I wonder if knowing a crafty lawyer is the secret of Fiona Cooper's success - a company that has been openly supplying hardcore (no men in it, of course) for some years by mail order, with no known legal difficulties?