New Zealand Censorship Facts

-Advertising material for a film must be submitted to the Labelling Body for approval at the same time as the film.

-Approximately 85% of the New Zealand market is rated, cross-rated and labelled by the Labelling Body.

-Films supplied to the general public (with some exemptions) must be labelled with the correct New Zealand labels. Failure to do so is an offence which carries a maximum fine of $3,000 for an individual or $10,000 for a company.

-Films became subject to state censorship in 1916 with the passing of the Cinematograph-Film Censorship Act. It was under this Act that New Zealand's first film censor was appointed.

-the 1916 Act made it illegal to show any film, which had not first been approved by the government-appointed censor.

Cinemas have agreed with New Zealand censorship agencies and film distributers to take the following into account when deciding on which trailers to play before a film:

· The age of the film’s likely audience

· The likely impact on that audience of screening the trailer with that feature film

· The time of the screening, particularly matinees (which younger children are more likely to attend)

-A teacher showing an R16 film to students under the age of 16 could face fines of up to $10,000 or be imprisoned for up to three months. The school could also be considered liable, in which case the fines could be up to $25,000.

-When a film is submitted for classification it is viewed by a Classification Officer (a CO). In the case of games, an expert game player plays the game while a CO watches and takes notes.

-In some cases, cuts may be required before a film can be given a classification. For example, in order for a film to receive an R18 classification, a particular scene may need to be removed from it. In these cases, the distributor is offered the option of making the cut. If the distributor agrees, the film is classified as R18. If they refuse, the film is classified as banned.

-NZ Customs is responsible for border control. Its role is to stop illegal material entering New Zealand. This includes banned publications carried in by travellers or sent though the mail.

-Some countries have virtually no restrictions on what types of films can be seen by their population, for example, France. However, nearly all countries ban films promoting the sexual exploitation of children.