The BBFC is not an enforcement agency but our legal advice suggests that we would be failing in our duty as a semi-statutory body responsible for classification if we took no action in relation to instances which had come to our attention regarding the illegal supply of video works.

Distributors and retailers can both commit compliance failures. It is therefore important for any VRA enforcement action to target the appropriate party. Because law enforcement agencies (LEAs) conduct checks on retailers in their area (eg test purchases to identify underage sales, ‘R18’s on sale in an unlicensed sex shop), they are therefore in the best position to investigate VRA breaches at the retailer level. With regard to distributors, many are customers of the BBFC. Therefore, for issues relating to VRA classification and labelling offences, the BBFC is able to act as an ‘honest broker’ between LEAs and those distributors with whom we already have a relationship.

The BBFC and LEAs have therefore agreed to work together to deal with compliance issues involving a distributor who is a customer of the BBFC. This will add to the notifications we already receive from third parties (eg members of the public via our website).

LEA investigations and the BBFC

The BBFC can assist LEA’s in their investigations into compliance failures in the following ways.

Underage sale – The LEA raises the issue with the retailer. The BBFC will still provide Certificates of Evidence as usual on request.

R18 on sale in unlicensed sex shop – The LEA raises the issue with the retailer. The BBFC will still provide Certificates of Evidence as usual on request.

Unclassified non-exempt work/Labelling offence – The LEA may contact the BBFC, who will deal with the issue as follows:

• If the distributor is a BBFC customer, the BBFC will raise the issue with the distributor.
• If the distributor is not a BBFC customer, the BBFC will refer the issue back to the LEA.

To raise the issue of an offence with the BBFC, LEA’s should send the following information in an email to evidence@bbfc.co.uk.

- Title of work

- Type of work (DVD, Blu-ray, game etc)

- Category on box/outer packaging/disc (if any)

- Compliance issue

- Name of retailer

Please note: we are not able to issue Certificates of Evidence for this type of query.

If another third party (eg a member of the public) draws our attention to a work which is being sold in breach of the VRA and for which the distributor is not a BBFC customer, the BBFC will advise the third party to bring it to the attention of the relevant LEA, and will copy this advice to LACORS.

Please see the attached VRA compliance failures download for full details of the policy.