applicable to the Family Viewing and Listening, 2020

L.N. 482 of 2020

BROADCASTING ACT

(CAP. 350)

Amendment to the Requirements as to Standards and Practice

applicable to the Family Viewing and Listening, 2020

IN EXERCISE and powers conferred by article 20(3) of the

Broadcasting Act, the Broadcasting Authority has made the following

requirements

The title of these requirements is the Amendment to the Title.

Requirements as to Standards and Practice applicable to the Family

Viewing and Listening, 2020 and these requirements shall be read and

construed as one with the Requirements as to Standards and Practice S.L. 350.18.

applicable to the Family Viewing and Listening, hereinafter referred to

as "the principal requirements".

Article 1.3 of the principal requirements shall be Substitutes

article 1.3 of the

substituted by the following

principal

requirements.

"1.3 The policy assumes a progressive decline throughout

the evening in the proportion of children present in the audience.

It expects a similar progression in the successive programmes

scheduled from early evening until closedown: the earlier in the

evening, the more suitable; the later in the evening, the less

suitable. Within the progression, 9:30 p.m. is fixed as the point

up to which the audiovisual media service provider will normally

regard themselves as responsible for ensuring that nothing is

shown that is unsuitable for children. But it is assumed that from

9:30 p.m. onwards, parents or guardians may reasonably be

expected to share responsibility for what their children are

permitted to see and listen to. Violence is not the only reason

why a programme may be unsuitable for family viewing or

listening. Other factors include bad language, innuendo,

blasphemy, explicit scenes or descriptions of sexual behaviour,

and scenes or portrayal of extreme distress.".

Article 3.1 of the principal requirements shall be amended Amends article

3.1 of the

as follows

principal

requirements.

(a) paragraph (v) thereof shall be substituted by the

following

"v. adult related programmes are to be broadcast only

after 9:30 p.m. Within the progression of successive

programmes scheduled from early evening until

closedown

i.

9:30 p.m. is fixed as the point up to which

the broadcasters will normally regard themselves as

responsible for ensuring that no audiovisual media is

broadcast that is unsuitable for children;

ii.

after 9:30 p.m. audiovisual media services

designed for adults may be broadcast;";

(b) paragraph (vi) thereof shall be substituted by the

following

"vi. in audiovisual media services the classification

signal and the signal of potential harmful content must be

superimposed on the audiovisual media service, where they

are visible during the first 60 seconds and should the

programme be interrupted, during the first 30 seconds

following commencement of broadcasts of the said

programme after each break. In the case of a radio

programme, the broadcaster has to air a notice before the

beginning of the programme that the latter is addressed to a

mature audience and should the programme be interrupted,

before the following commencement of broadcasts of the

said programme after each break;";

(c) paragraph (viii) thereof shall be substituted by the

following

"viii. in so far as audiovisual media services are

concerned, service media providers should adopt the

following classification signage

U for audiovisual media services suitable for persons of

all ages.

The letter "U" should be encircled in a green colour.

PG for audiovisual media services which require parental

guidance as they may not be suitable for young

children.

The letters "PG" should be encircled in a yellow

colour.

12Afor audiovisual media services suitable only for persons

of twelve years and over but younger people may only

see them if they are accompanied by an adult.

The number "12A" should be encircled in an orange

colour.

12 for audiovisual media services suitable only for persons

of twelve years.

The number "12" should be encircled in an orange

colour.

15 for audiovisual media services suitable only for persons

of fifteen years.

The number "15" should be encircled in a brown

colour.

18 for audiovisual media services suitable only for persons

of eighteen years.

The number "18" should be encircled in a brown

colour.

(d) immediately after paragraph (viii) thereof, as

substituted, there shall be added the following new paragraphs

"ix. in the classification process of audiovisual

media services in the manner prescribed in the preceding

paragraph, service media providers shall also decide which

signal or signals of potential harmful content will be

broadcast with the classification in accordance with the

procedure listed in paragraph (vi) of article 3.1. The signal

or signals of the potentially harmful content shall reflect

that reason or reasons that have led the service media

provider to that particular classification and this by

determining whether the audiovisual media service has

content that includes violence, fear, sex, discrimination,

alcohol and / or drug abuse or inappropriate language.

x.

Audiovisual media service providers shall use

the following potentially harmful content signalling

system

VIOLENCE

FEAR

SEX

DISCRIMINATION

ALCOHOL ABUSE AND / OR DRUGS

INAPPROPRIATE LANGUAGE".

Immediately after article 4 of the principal requirements,

there shall be added the following new articles

"5. A breach of any of the provisions of these

requirements shall constitute an administrative offence

punishable by the Broadcasting Authority in terms of Article 41

and the Fifth Schedule of the Broadcasting Act".

The wording "audiovisual media service" and "media

service provider" shall have the same meaning as that provided

in the Broadcasting Act.".

€0.36