Indecent video tapes to be monitored

Press, 20 October 1981, Page 3

Indecent video tapes to be monitored

PA Wellington Imports of indecent video tapes will be monitored during the next six months to see if a change in the law is needed, the Government has announced. A recent decision of the District Court at Auckland, involving video tapes, confirmed that they are covered by the Indecent Publications Act and that there are adequate legal powers to enable action to be taken against video tapes considered indecent, said the Minister of Justice (Mr McLay) and the

Minister of Customs (Mr Templeton) yesterday. The Indecent Publications Act requires that a court, rather than the Indecent Publications Tribunal, consider whether particular tapes are indecent or not. The Tribunal’s responsibilities are restricted to books and sound recordings. The Ministers said this position did not give rise to any immediate problems. But increases in the number (generally legal) of video tapes imported are expected, and it was desirable to con-

sider further whether the courts should continue to determine indecency or whether there was a need to involve a body such as the Indecent Publications Tribunal. The Ministers said that they would ask their departments to report in six months, after which they would decide whether to recommend special legislation on the matter. "In the meantime," they said, “it is clear that the law is adquate to deal with any present problems that might arise.”