REQUIREMENTS AS TO LABELLING, ETC. (Hansard, 16 March 1984)

§ Mr. Bright
I beg to move amendment No. 35, in page 5, line 40, leave out from 'of any' to 'to' and insert 'of the contents of any classification certificate'.

Mr. Deputy Speaker
With this we shall take the following amendments:

§ Mr. Bright
Amendment No. 35 deals with labelling. We discussed that matter at some length in Committee and I agreed to table an amendment on report. The amendment makes it absolutely certain that everyone knows where they stand on the matter.
The important aspect is that it will not be necessary to put the label at the beginning of a video cassette or disc because of the problems involved in doing that for those already in circulation, and especially for those brought in for the ethnic minority. All other labelling remains as spelt out in the Bill.

§ Mr. Simon Hughes
I should like an explanation of why it is not a good idea—I have heard and understood what the hon. Member for Luton, South (Mr. Bright) has said—that at the beginning of the video there should be, as it were, an indication of its classification. My point relates particularly to the second amendment in the group, No. 36, which seeks to delete lines 42 and 43.
Clause 6(1)(b) reads: on any video recording containing the work or any spool, case or other thing on or in which such a video recorder is kept". I do not understand why it is felt that that would give a proper indication to people of what is contained in the video. It is necessary to indicate at the beginning of the work, before it starts, exactly what is in it. I accept that where videos are already in existence it would be difficult to have such an insertion made, but why, for the future, will it be sufficient to leave the provision as it is? Will it not allow videos to get through the loophole, because people will start to watch them and only later discover what they are? If they are not in a box or other container, they will discover too late that they are videos which they did not want to watch and did not want their children to watch.

§ Mr. Bright
The purpose of the Bill is to ensure that people know what they are purchasing or hiring from a shop. Everything will be in an outer cover, and the cassette or disc itself will be marked, so that the contents will be obvious before it is put into a video recording machine. Incidentally, we shall be encouraging the trade—and I hope that it will act responsibly—wherever possible, when producing new products, to put the contents on at the beginning. But if we were to insist on that, it would be impossible to put a note at the beginning, particularly on a disc, because that is a different process altogether and it is not possible to splice anything into it.
Many videos are brought into Britain especially for the ethnic minorities. I have many such people in my constituency in Luton who want to watch videos brought in for them. It would not be practicable to make such 666 provision for the odd half dozen videos which come in from India or Pakistan, because it would mean making them illegal, and we do not want to do that.
I am satisfied that people will be aware of what they are purchasing and what they are expecting to watch. I am also happy that, through the good offices of the trade, the information will be put in at the beginning of new products.