The Justice and Electoral Committee has examined the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification (Interim Restriction Order Classification) Amendment Bill, and recommends that it be passed with the amendments shown.

The Films, Videos, and Publications Classification (Interim Restriction Order Classification) Amendment Bill aims to give the President of the Film and Literature Board of Review, the High Court, and High Court judges more flexibility when making interim restriction orders. To achieve this goal, it proposes to amend the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993.

The key provisions in the bill are intended to allow interim restriction orders to completely restrict access to a publication, as they do currently, or restrict access only to people who:

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  are a certain age

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  belong to a certain class, such as tertiary students

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  are accessing the publication for a certain purpose, such as a film festival.

These three new types of interim restriction orders reflect the classifications that may be imposed on a publication by the Office of Film and Literature Classification.

This commentary covers the main amendments we recommend to the bill. It does not discuss minor or technical amendments.

The Office of Film and Literature Classification is responsible for classifying publications such as films, videos, books, games, and audio recordings. The purpose of this classification system is to protect the New Zealand public and inform them about the publications they use.

Classifications can be reviewed. Applications for reviews of classifications are put before the Film and Literature Board of Review, which re-examines the publication and determines its classification as it sees fit. If someone disagrees with the Board of Review’s decision on a point of law, they can appeal to the High Court.

We are recommending amendments to the structure and drafting of the bill to ensure the intended policy is reflected. Our recommended amendments would set out the four types of interim restriction orders more clearly.

It should be noted that we are recommending an amendment, in clause 1, to change the bill’s name to the “Films, Videos, and Publications Classification (Interim Restriction Orders) Amendment Bill”. We consider that this name would more accurately reflect the content of the bill.

We were advised that the principal Act contains offence provisions that do not envisage the more flexible interim restriction orders proposed in this bill. The existing penalty for breaching an interim restriction order would also apply to breaching any of the new types of orders.

We recommend adding clause 6, to insert new section 133A in the principal Act. This new clause would introduce new offence provisions for interim restriction orders.