LIVE shows and radio and TV will be governed by public indecency laws and the Independent Broadcasting Authority respectively. A new rating system for films and publications –including computer software — envisaged by the new Bill uses four categories.
An XX rating bans the distribution of material that
* Child pornography;
* Explicit, prolonged sex and violence;
* Bestiality;
* Extreme violence likely to spark further violence.
An X18 rating affects material showing “genitals in a state of arousal or stimulation”. Cinemas, video outlets, newsagents and bookshops will need special licences, to be had from local authorities, to deal in X18-rated material. They will have to adhere to rules barring children under 18 and which also govern the display and distribution of such material.
An R18 rating will apply to material deemed harmful to anyone younger than 18 or a younger age specified — and it will have to carry a notice saying so. Publications rated R18 must be sold in opaque, sealed wrappers but do not have to be sold from licensed
An F18 rating applies to periodicals where six consecutive issues are likely to contain material deemed harmful to under-18s, where the publisher
Films and publications judged to be bona fide technical, professional, educational, scientific, documentary, literary or artistic will not be subject to XX or X18 ratings.
Contraventions carry fines ranging from R2 000 to R10 000 or jail terms of between six months and two years, or both.