I propose that under the Video Recordings Act sec 4(6) the Secretary of state introduces a special reduced tariff for the classification of 'non-mainstream' DVDs.   Such as for foreign language and world cinema titles where the potential sales may only be a few thousand copies.

The DVD distributor will have to give evidence to the BBFC that the title will sell less than say 5,000 copies in the first year.   And after the first year the distributor will be required to show that the sales have been below this threshold or face a charge for the full cost of classification.

Why is this idea important?

The BBFC currently charges a flat rate fee for the classification of films and DVDs.   This unduly penalises non-mainstream releases where the BBFC charges can be as much as 10-20% of the of cost of producing a DVD.

A mainstream blockbuster title such as Avatar sold over 200,000 copies on the first day of sale in the UK.   Some non-mainstream titles struggle to sell 1000 copies in a year.

This can mean the difference between profit and loss and for a small distributor.   And in the current economic climate this can result in some titles simply being skipped over.   This leads to increased sale of bootlegs, importing from overseas or simply downloading from the internet.   All of those have a detrimental effect on the UK economy.

I feel that my proposals are within the realms of existing UK law and could be implemented quite quickly.   There are calls for the abolition of the BBFC in its entirety and a move to an American style self certification system.   However this would require a major change to UK law.

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