Agenda item

To consider the responses received from the public consultation that has taken place and for the Licensing Authority to deal with the classification of otherwise unclassified films, appeals by distributors against the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) decisions as to the classification of a film or to reclassify films.

The Committee heard that the Council was the Licensing Authority under the provisions of the Licensing Act 2003 (the Act). A function of the Licensing Authority under the Act was to receive, consider and determine applications for Premises Licences or Club Premises Certificates. The Act regulated various activities (known as licensable activities or in the case of a private club operating pursuant to a Club Premises Certificate, qualifying club activities). Those activities included the provision of regulated entertainment.

Members were told that the Act sought to promote 4 licensing objectives. Those were:

-       Prevention of crime and disorder;

-       Prevention of public nuisance;

-       Public safety; and

-       Protection of children from harm.

Schedule 1 of the Licensing Act 2003 set out what activities were regarded as the provision of regulated entertainment. The description of entertainment activities licensable under the Act included the exhibition of film. To be licensable, an activity needed to be provided for the purpose (at least partly) of entertaining an audience; had to be held on premises made available for the purpose of enabling that activity; and must also either:

-       Take place in the presence of a public audience, or

-       Where that activity took place in private, be the subject of a charge made with a view to profit.

The Committee was informed that, all premises licences that permitted regulated entertainment in the form of the exhibition of films had a mandatory condition attached to it relating to the admission of children to that premises. Children under the Licensing Act 2003 were defined as anyone under the age of 18. The mandatory condition was a requirement under Section 20 of the Licensing Act 2003.

Officers also told Members that the mandatory condition read as follows:

“Admission of children to the premises must be restricted in accordance with the film classification recommended by the British Board of Film Classification or recommended by this licensing authority as appropriate.”

Members were made aware that, when considering any film which had been put forward for classification, the Licensing Authority would consider it in terms of how the exhibition of the film would impact on the licensing objectives, namely the protection of children from harm. That would apply to any film that had been put forward for a classification that would permit children to watch it. There were seven BBFC classification tiers (U, PG, 12, 12A, 15, 18 & R18) relating to what age a child may be permitted to watch the film on their own or whether there should be any parental or adult supervision.

The Committee learnt that the Licensing Authority deferred to the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) as the standard classification body for films. However, the Licensing Authority was ultimately able to set film classifications relating to the exhibition of films within the District of Tendring and had the power to classify films away from those adopted by the BBFC. Having said that, it would be unreasonable to disregard any classification applied by the BBFC for a particular film. In addition, when classifying any film, it had been the Licensing Authority’s approval to have regard to the BBFC Guidelines and one element of the proposal in the Officer report was to formally confirm that approach.

Members also were told that, there were specific factors that may influence a classification decision such as:

-       Discrimination,

-       Drugs,

-       Imitable behaviour,

-       Language,

-       Nudity,

-       Sex,

-       Threat, and,

-       Violence.

Finally, the Committee was reminded that, at its meeting held on 25 March 2024, it had agreed to undertake an 8-week public consultation on the draft policy for Film Classification for the District.

It was moved by Councillor Smith, seconded by Councillor Davidson and:-

RESOLVED that, having considered the outcome of the public consultation on a draft Film Classification Policy, it formally recommends to Cabinet that the policy attached to the Officer report (Appendix A) be adopted.